MANILA, Philippines—Warning that the panic over the Influenza A(H1N1) virus was already affecting the economy, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said on Tuesday schools should no longer suspend classes if they get a second confirmed case of the virus.

“It’s useless (suspending classes for entire schools). This is just like sore eyes or cough,” Lapus said.

He said suspending classes in schools where there was already a “low-level” outbreak of swine flu would only worsen an economy already teetering on recession.

“We are coming out with new school guidelines today or tomorrow, which shifts the focus from containment to mitigation, because even if you suspend classes, would that stop the spread of the virus?” Lapus said.

He said students would just go to malls and movie houses if classes were suspended (and spread the disease).

“If there’s already a community outbreak, you can no longer contain it. You have to deal with the disease,” Lapus said.

A preliminary copy of the guidelines said that school officials should be careful about suspending classes for the entire school, especially if they already have a previous confirmed case.

“There is no value in suspending classes for the same group of students or school staff in case another confirmed case is detected in the group,” it said.

“The likelihood that transmission has occurred prior to the occurrence of symptoms and laboratory testing is high. Thus, the emphasis on infection management should be shifted to individual patient care,” it added.

Lapus said the Department of Education (DepEd) was just waiting for a go-signal from the Department of Health before it issues the new guidelines.

Block section

The proposed guidelines said classes “for students in a block section can be suspended altogether” when one of them is confirmed to have the virus, “while sparing the rest of the school population from disruption of classes, especially when there are no confirmed cases in other sections.”

“So in the first instance, you suspend. But on the second instance, don’t. We should emphasize that this is a mild strain of the virus and the woman who died already had a pre-existing medical condition,” Lapus said.

Makeup classes

The education secretary also said that public schools that suspended classes could make up for these by canceling their “sem break” or the one week in October and November when teachers usually go on training.

Lapus made his call as the number of confirmed swine flu cases in schools more than doubled yesterday, with the DepEd central office receiving more reports from the provinces.

New cases in schools

The official DepEd count showed that the number of confirmed flu cases in schools jumped to 116 from just 54 on Tuesday, as the number of schools which had confirmed cases also rose from 30 to 40.

The new schools with confirmed cases include San Beda College in Manila (one confirmed case), Holy Spirit School BF (one in elementary) and St. Joseph Catholic School (one in high school) in Quezon City, Assumption School in Antipolo City (one in high school), Colegio de Sta Rosa in Makati (one in high school), Canossa School in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (one in high school), St. Paul College in Pasig (one in elementary) and Lourdes School in Mandaluyong (one case).

University of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu Mandaue had six confirmed cases in college. Three schools had some cases being monitored: St. Mary’s School in Catbalogan City (two cases), Sacred Heart School in Tacloban (2 cases), and De La Salle University in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Tone down

Lapus said the negative publicity about the A(H1N1) situation in the Philippines was affecting the economy.

“If we don’t tone this down, our economy will be affected and this will contribute to the recession. Our tourism will be affected if readers abroad see the news. It would affect OFWs leaving the country to work abroad,” he said.