How does CDC’s new flu guidance for schools differ from the previous school guidance documents?
The new guidance applies to any flu virus circulating during the 2009-2010 school year, not only 2009 H1N1 flu. The new guidance recognizes the need to balance the risks of illness among students and staff with the benefits of keeping students in school. It offers specific steps for school staff, parents, and students to take given the current flu conditions as well as for more severe flu conditions. The new guidance also provides information for making decisions at the community level about when to use these strategies aimed at schools. In addition, this guidance recommends that, based on current flu conditions, students and staff with flu-like illness stay home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever. This should be determined without the use of fever-reducing medicines (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen). This is a shorter time period from the previous guidance which recommended that sick students and staff stay home 7 days a
