CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Worried parents should know that closing schools is not always the best option when dealing with swine flu, state Health Officer Cathy Slemp and state Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine said Tuesday.

Paine hopes parents rest easy about keeping children home when they have a fever and other flulike symptoms, and has urged county superintendents to be lenient with their attendance policies.

He spoke specifically about high schools, where students often must take final exams if they miss enough days of class.

"Sometimes there are more important things in life than [taking] exams," he said.

Dr. Slemp understands that parents across the state -- specifically in Cabell County, where a 14-year-old student died of complications from swine flu last weekend -- are worried about sending their children to school.

"My kids go to school in Cabell County and I'm sending them to school," she said.

Closing schools is not always the best option, Slemp said. "It's not a black-and-white issue."

Some students rely on schools for most or all of their meals, she said. Parents who are health-care providers might stay home to be with their children if schools close, which burdens hospitals and other health systems. Closing schools also disrupts a child's education, she said.

However, a "selective school closure" might become necessary in a school with a higher population of pregnant students or employees, or a higher number of people who suffer underlying heart, lung or other conditions brought on by diabetes, cystic fibrosis and other health problems, Slemp said.

In many cases, it's simply better to keep sick children separated from healthy children, she said.

No schools in Cabell have closed after the death of Cabell Midland High School student Patrick Wheeler, yet Mason Superintendent Bill Capehart decided -- with the help of Mason County Health Department Director Gary Pack -- to close Ashton Elementary School until Tuesday.

Both those decisions are sound, Paine said.

Capehart said Mason school officials have been monitoring the situation at Ashton Elementary for about a month. In the past couple of weeks, more and more Ashton students were absent from school, and the rate exceeded 25 percent this week, he said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Worried parents should know that closing schools is not always the best option when dealing with swine flu, state Health Officer Cathy Slemp and state Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine said Tuesday.

Paine hopes parents rest easy about keeping children home when they have a fever and other flulike symptoms, and has urged county superintendents to be lenient with their attendance policies.

He spoke specifically about high schools, where students often must take final exams if they miss enough days of class.

"Sometimes there are more important things in life than [taking] exams," he said.

Dr. Slemp understands that parents across the state -- specifically in Cabell County, where a 14-year-old student died of complications from swine flu last weekend -- are worried about sending their children to school.

"My kids go to school in Cabell County and I'm sending them to school," she said.

Closing schools is not always the best option, Slemp said. "It's not a black-and-white issue."

Some students rely on schools for most or all of their meals, she said. Parents who are health-care providers might stay home to be with their children if schools close, which burdens hospitals and other health systems. Closing schools also disrupts a child's education, she said.

However, a "selective school closure" might become necessary in a school with a higher population of pregnant students or employees, or a higher number of people who suffer underlying heart, lung or other conditions brought on by diabetes, cystic fibrosis and other health problems, Slemp said.

In many cases, it's simply better to keep sick children separated from healthy children, she said.

No schools in Cabell have closed after the death of Cabell Midland High School student Patrick Wheeler, yet Mason Superintendent Bill Capehart decided -- with the help of Mason County Health Department Director Gary Pack -- to close Ashton Elementary School until Tuesday.

Both those decisions are sound, Paine said.

Capehart said Mason school officials have been monitoring the situation at Ashton Elementary for about a month. In the past couple of weeks, more and more Ashton students were absent from school, and the rate exceeded 25 percent this week, he said.

Brenda Isaac, lead school nurse for Kanawha County Schools and president of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's Board of Health, said Thursday that no Kanawha school has reached the point where it needs to close.

"We would have to have so many students and staff out that we couldn't continue with the academic day," she said.

To prevent the spread of the airborne H1N1 virus, Slemp said parents should keep students home if they have a fever and show flulike symptoms. If the child's symptoms develop during the school day, school employees should separate the student from other children and then send them home with parents, she said.

"We're in the incline stage with this outbreak," Slemp said. The swine flu has proven to spread more rapidly among people under the age of 25, while there are low numbers in the elderly population, she said.

In almost all cases, the patient recovers in a few days. In some cases however complications such as pneumonia can lead to hospitalization or death, Slemp said. Three West Virginians have died from the flu and its complications.

"The fact that it can be that serious is why you hear us preaching prevention," she said.

Locally, swine flu symptoms have been "actually a little milder in nature than the seasonal flu," she said. The media has inflamed a little "undue hysteria" in the past week, she said, noting that student illnesses such as strep throat and stomach viruses are not unusual for this time of year.

Most children with swine flu stay out of school for four to five days, and then come back and they're fine, she said. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends separating sick people from healthy people until 24 hours after the fever is gone without the use of ibuprofen, aspirin or other fever reducers.

Still, parents should always consult a physician when children have severe symptoms, Slemp and Isaac said.

Isaac said parents can still have their children vaccinated if they're not sure the child has contracted swine flu. She hopes vaccinations will begin in county schools by early November.

Children who are 3 and 4 years old will be the first to receive the vaccinations, she said.

Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1254.