"We're seeking to avoid it, and we're not expecting it," she said of suspending classes.
Administrators at the Johns Hopkins University have met weekly over the summer to discuss H1N1 preparations. They recently sent an e-mail to all students outlining prevention steps but also warning that every student should have a plan to get home should classes be suspended.
That seems improbable given that the virus has behaved similarly to mundane seasonal flu, said Hopkins spokesman Dennis O'Shea. "Our school of public health has been modeling outbreaks," he said. "And they believe that even if a significant number of students and faculty get sick, it's not likely that a lot of them will get sick at the same time. So we're assuming that we would not close unless something changes with the virus."
Swine flu might spread more efficiently than the seasonal variety, but it isn't likely to cause more severe symptoms this fall, said Andrew Pekosz, a professor of immunology at Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.
"It seems to be lacking the gene sequences that would tell us it has a chance to become more deadly," Pekosz said, while cautioning that anything is possible. "If there is such a thing as the ideal pandemic, this is something we'd much rather deal with than, say, the 1918 influenza. Everything we know about controlling the seasonal flu really does apply to this virus."
In the state's public school systems, officials want to limit the virus' spread, particularly during the first weeks of school before a vaccine is ready.
In some schools, particularly those where small children can spread germs on desks and doorknobs, staff will wipe down surfaces and tell students to sneeze into their elbows rather than their hands. "Our principals are ready to hammer that home on the first day of school," said Bob Mosier, a spokesman for Anne Arundel County public schools.
Most important, Phillips said, is that parents not send children to school with flu symptoms, including fevers and sore throats. The state Health Department has also advised schools to set aside rooms where sick children can be isolated while waiting to be picked up from school.
Parents shouldn't send their children back to school until their fevers have been gone for 24 hours without the use of medication. While that might seem a simple directive, it could have wide effects on businesses, Phillips said. "Employers need to understand it is in their best interest to have a liberal leave policy" for parents, she said.
