RICHLAND, WA -- At Hanford High, rumors and fears are circulating about potential dangers of a swine flu outbreak. Emails pouring in like this one that wrote "How come 1/3 of the students at Hanford High are out sick, there is a swine flu epidemic right here under our noses."

"Last week I was gone for three days. It's been pretty bad," Hanford High Senior Frank Upson said.

On a typical week, Richland School District Spokesperson, Steve Aaggard, said anywhere from three to seven students are sent home from Hanford High. Last week, he said 43 students were sent home.

"Forty-three isn't a huge number," Heather Hill said. She is the communicable disease program manager for the Benton-Franklin Health District.

Hill said this trend is exactly what the Health Department expected. She blames fear of the swine flu, known formally as H1N1, on it's timing, the fact that it's new and making headlines.

"This is normal for flu season," she said. "This is not normally when we have flu season and that is what I think is throwing off the general public and the schools."

It's not just Hanford. Hill said several schools in the Tri Cities are pushing 10-percent absentee rates, the number required to report to the health district. At one point, Hill said, Southridge High School in Kennewick and the Patterson School District ranged between 15 and 20 percent absentee rates.

At Jefferson elementary in Richland, Wednesday, kids were lining up to go to the health room. On Tuesday, school reps said 42 kids were home sick. Wednesday, it was 32. Absentee rates climbed to 10.6 percent, the highest the health room aid had ever seen.

"Teachers are definitely concerned about this, you know, having numbers in your classroom disappearing every day they're starting to panic," Debbie Hamilton said, Health Aid at Jefferson Elementary School.

Richland schools officials tell me they are being proactive. Hamilton said Richland schools are installing hand sanitizers in every classroom and posting signs reminding students and staff about hygiene. Letters have gone home to parents emphasizing the importance of hand-washing and asking mom and dad to keep the kids home until they have had no symptoms for at least a day. Plus, school health aids said they're tracking symptoms and sick kids weekly, as well as working with the Health Department to send out information and even comic book story lines about the flu.

When it's really bad, aids like Hamilton will send a student home. It's often up to the health aid to make that call once they've checked temperature and other flu-like symptoms. But in high school, students tend to tough it out.

"I sit next to three like people who are going to school even though they are sick," Upson said.

"That student can quietly sit there in class and expose others and not tell anybody," Hill said.

Rumors are rampant but, the bottom line is, health officials emphasize that there is no reason for alarm. Take responsibility and stay home if you're sick so you can stop swine flu before it hits the hallways.

In the meantime, health officials said they will only close schools as a last resort.


H1N1 (SWINE FLU) RESOURCES:

WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: www.doh.wa.gov/h1n1/

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: www.flu.gov

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC): www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES IN WA: www.doh.wa.gov/LHJmap/

BENTON-FRANKLIN HEALTH DISTRICT (MAIN PAGE): http://www.bfhd.wa.gov/base/index.php

BENTON-FRANKLIN HEALTH DISTRICT (SWINE FLU): http://www.bfhd.wa.gov/flu/index.php

TO KNOW SCHOOL POLICIES, VISIT OSPI: www.k12.wa.us/healthservices/h1n1flu.aspx