Closing schools and cancelling school sports, performances, and other activities in light of no students currently infected seems a bit overkill. IMHO
But the schools have to ‘do something’ in response to the riled up parents caused by the media.
The terms epidemic and pandemic are scary words that are being thrown around by the press to inflame people who don’t know the words exact meaning.
Definitions: An outbreak is a sudden rise in cases of a disease in a particular place. An epidemic is a large outbreak. A pandemic means a global epidemic.
It doesn’t specifically speak to the deadliness of a particular disease, just the rate of spread in a population.
From the Calif Dept of Education:
“California law authorizes the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) to provide credit for instructional time in the case of a schoolwide closure based on a declaration of an epidemic made by a local public health officer. However, closing a school simply as a precaution may result in a LEA not qualifying for a J-13A waiver and a penalty for failure to offer the statutorily required instructional days and/or minutes.”
