What about H1N1 and School Sports?

There is quite a bit of scratching of heads these days and less hand shaking by high school coaches and athletes, and I am thinking it has nothing to do with poor sportsmanship.

More like two letters and two numbers - H1N1.

You should know what that is by now.

The Public Health Agency of Canada issued guidelines for all schools last month on how to deal with Round Two of the influenza-like illness. Tag on the messages and commitments by the various Boards of Education to protect the health and well-being of everyone. So far, so good as people anxiously wonder if there is cause to panic or stay calm and just keep washing their hands.

When a school in British Columbia reported on Wednesday that one third of the students were sent home, I got thinking again about how things were shaping up in Toronto, if that dreaded flu hits here.

Well, the two athletic associations that govern school sports in this city have told me that there is no plan in place regarding sports and what to do if games have to be cancelled because of a lack of healthy bodies. For now, they're just tagging along with directions from their respective school boards.

One representative told me he was informed that it's “not a pandemic problem here.” Let's hope it won't be either.

While it may be difficult to come up with revamped schedules now, especially when everything is status quo, one would assume that some discussion would have occurred when teachers and coaches returned from those vacation months.

Even some form of correspondence that might have gone out with reminder messages about encouraging things such as telling students to avoid sharing water bottles (it still happens), take precautions about the sportsmanship thing of shaking hands before or after games and having plenty of hand cleanser, maybe a bottle for each athlete. I know, it costs money and no one has any.

Rather than being out of sight, out of mind, there is nothing wrong with being pro-active, vigilant, stressing education and making this a priority rather than having to deal with the panic button later on.

Comments

[Jimmy Boyle]

No surprise because people tend to sit back and wait for others to take the lead. Maybe someone can make a call and see if a few bucks are around to purchase hand cleanser now before they start receiving body bags free of charge.

[PiperBoy]

You got it wrong. Something drastic has to happen before people go on the offensive. Shaking hand. yeah, that will go over real well when Westview and Jefferys play each other in a football game.

[Buddy]

Very surprised to hear that people in my Board are sitting on their bums about something that can become very serious. Whatever happened to communicating in education. Geez.

[Jesse B]

If that virus hits us bad, goodbye to school sports for awhile. Make that goodbye to lots of things. People just won't take chances.

[Big Al]

Everyone will end up wearing gloves, like they do in golf, and it'll look cool in basketball games.

[Amos]

Shhhh. Don't wake people up at those Board of Educations or they might have to write a report and attend some meetings. They know exactly how to deal with a health hazard situation. It's called RUN and HIDE.

[Kingsley Johnstone]

You are getting people panicky by writing this kind of stuff when nothing will really happen. People will get colds and the flu. It happens all the time. This H1N1 stuff is all phoney to make the Governments and others look good.

[KT]

Shaking hands will be going on no matter how many times memos, e-mails, letters, phone calls, advisory notices, posters are distributed. People are people. They don't think when they should.

[Big Daddy]

Maybe athletes should stop eating too because they'll get excessively fat from the junk food. Also need to stop the bottled water too because those empty plastic bottles are creating landfill problems. Still see athletes smoking legal and illegal stuff. Maybe next is to get athletes to stop breathing because the air is polluted. Keep dreaming.

[Gaey]

Schools are "Ground Zero" for the swine flu. Don't belive me, read on. Here's a report from CTV News from Vancouver for all the naysayers who think all this is a few sniffles.

VANCOUVER -- More than one-third of the students at a downtown Vancouver elementary school were absent from class Wednesday, signalling an early start to the annual flu season in the westernmost province.

And a health official said other schools and other provinces should be prepared to see the resurgence of the virus in the coming weeks.

"I'd be very surprised if, within a few weeks, we don't start seeing cases all the way across Canada if we're not seeing them now," said Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s provincial medical health officer.

Kendall said health officials anticipated a resurgence of the virus once school resumed - schools are "Ground Zero" for virus and infections. Of the 329 students at Elsie Roy Elementary School in Vancouver, 113 stayed home with flu-like symptoms on Wednesday.

[J.R. Brathwaite]

I couldn't find anything on the OFSAA website about this flu so I was wondering if someone might be able to fill me in on what precautions they are taking or recommending for school teams and their playoffs.

[Big John]

Reading this site, some people just don't get it. This is not the sniffles. Prevention does help. Think, people.

[Sam McKoy]

I'm washing my hands now. Putting on hand sanitizer also. Will it help, don't really think so unless I walk around in a bubble.

[Freddie M]

I would assume that the various Boards of Education are calling the shots here and the athletic associations are tagging along with whatever they say and recommend. That shouldn't stop individual schools from emphasizing the importance of clean hands and making hand sanitizers more obvious to students and staff.

[J. Downing]

Panic? Do I sense we're panicking prematurely.

[Pepper]

Ridiculous that these school boards haven't done any serious thinking or specific education when it comes to sports. Reports show that schools are the breeding grounds. Remember the summer camps. Guess all that flu just apperared over Muskoka and picked out just the Toronto kids. They must think the wind will blow this over.

[Kennedy]

Get off their backs because maybe they needed more time to come up with creative ideas. This is Toronto education. Half of June, all of July and August (whoops, vacation)isn't enough and the big boys and girls making those six-figure salaries at the education boards are just as much to blame - if not more. Hello people, get the message to everyone - and especially the students - even if if gets to them in several ways and several times.

[B. Carmichael]

Seems straightforward to me. If this flu gets serious, students stay home, then no sports. The school board will just enforce it. But it makes sense to draw awareness to these athletes.

[David Grossman]

Update on this item. Just spoke with Peter Morris from OFSAA. He confirms there is no policy or plan by the organization todate to deal with teams not able to attend provincial playoffs because of H1N1. He explained things will be discussed at the next OFSAA meeting on how to deal with fall-out, if it becomes an issue. If players or a school can't attend because of illness or a directive from the school, it would be up to that sports association to have a plan in effect for a runner-up. Hypothetically, if a top team is affected, that OFSAA playoff - be it field hockey, basketball, volleyball, etc. - could go down with an asterisk.

[Gary Campbell]

As a long time reader of the Star, thank you for keeping us informed of this very important issue.

[Julia D]

Very unfortunate, but we can't predict health. I am not one to reply to these forums but my colleagues said it would be adviable. What we can do, and this surprises me as a physical education teacher, is a better job communicating to our athletes. I am not sure if others are doing this and to what extent. For Heaven's sake, why isn't someone also providing teams or schools with hand sanitizers for games?

[ZINYA KH]

Please visit PAHO/WHO Community of Practice on Response to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in family and community health settings that also intends to discuss similar issues. Join the CoP and register in the discussion forum.

[Doctor Moon]

Kingsly johnstone...HATS OFF TOO YOU!!!!.I was wondering when,out of all the comments;someone got it.Do all of you actually believe evrything you see in media???Get with the program and start talking to older people about how big business works.The cant teach you this in school yet..THis is called the "school of hard knocks".You will all hopefully understand someday...sooner the better about how BIG PHARMA$$$/BANKS/MEDIA/POLITICIANS/LAWYERS are all tied together.In the mean time...eat well..get ;plenty of rest..take your cod liver oil...wash your hands..keep your hands away from your face...and youll be fine

[Coach]

I see this was written a month ago and I have also noticed that OFSAA finally got around to putting some information on its website.
It only took them forever to do it and when they did it was the same information we've been hearing and blasted at us from the various federal and provincial and muncipal health departments for months.
I wonder if OFSAA is really that far behind in reacting, could they be that busy or do some of the people in that dismal group in need of a good kick in the pants.