Evaluation of an unplanned school closure in a Colorado school district: implications for pandemic influenza preparedness.
OBJECTIVE
From January 29 through February 5, 2013, a school district outside metropolitan Denver, Colorado, was closed because of absenteeism related to influenza-like illness (ILI) among students and staff. We evaluated the consequences and acceptability of the closure among affected households.


METHODS
We conducted a household survey regarding parent or guardian employment and income interruptions, alternative child care arrangements, interruption of noneducational school services, ILI symptoms, student re-congregation, and communication preferences during the closure.


RESULTS
Of the 35 (31%) of 113 households surveyed, the majority (28 [80%]) reported that the closure was not challenging. Seven (20%) households reported challenges: 5 (14%) reported that 1 or more adults missed work, 3 (9%) reported lost pay, and 1 (3%) reported challenges because of missed subsidized school meals. The majority (22 [63%]) of households reported that a hypothetical 1-month closure would not represent a problem; 6 of 8 households that did anticipate challenges reported that all adults worked outside the home. The majority (58%) of students visited at least 1 outside venue during the closure.


CONCLUSIONS
A brief school closure did not pose a major problem for the majority of the affected households surveyed. School and public health officials should consider the needs of families in which all adults work outside the home when creating school closure contingency plans.
1Epidemic IntelligenceService,Atlanta,Georgia.
Erin E
EE
Epson
2Division of Global Migration and Quarantine,Community Interventions for Infection Control Unit, ,Atlanta,Georgia.
Yenlik A
YA
Zheteyeva
2Division of Global Migration and Quarantine,Community Interventions for Infection Control Unit, ,Atlanta,Georgia.
Jeanette J
JJ
Rainey
2Division of Global Migration and Quarantine,Community Interventions for Infection Control Unit, ,Atlanta,Georgia.
Hongjiang
H
Gao
2Division of Global Migration and Quarantine,Community Interventions for Infection Control Unit, ,Atlanta,Georgia.
Jianrong
J
Shi
2Division of Global Migration and Quarantine,Community Interventions for Infection Control Unit, ,Atlanta,Georgia.
Amra
A
Uzicanin
3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,Atlanta,Georgia;andColorado Department of Public Health and Environment,Denver,Colorado.
Lisa
L
Miller
D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003120:Colorado / Q000453:epidemiology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D058873:Pandemics; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
health policy