The Dallas County Medical Society, which represents more than 7,000 physicians, issued a memo for area schools Friday recommending campuses remain open if they have students who are related to people being checked for Ebola.
“Keeping all schools open, including schools that have children of parents who are being monitored, presents no risk to students or teachers and sends an important message of allaying fears in the community,” the memo reads.
It came a day after some schools were closed because parents were involved in the care of Ebola patients or were on a Frontier Airlines flight with a nurse who has Ebola.
Despite the low risk, some parents kept their children home from school.
Royse City ISD closed two schools Friday after learning a health care worker with two children in the district helped care for at least one Ebola patient. Attendance at the six open schools was lower than usual — at 86 percent compared with the usual 95 percent to 98 percent, said JoNell Mellody, district spokeswoman.
Davis Elementary and Ruth Cherry Intermediate will open Monday after being thoroughly cleaned, Mellody said. The other schools also will be cleaned.
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD also had an attendance drop. A family with a child at Lake Pointe Elementary chose to stay in isolation for 21 days because a family member was on the Frontier flight. Attendance at the school was down 28 percent, said Kristin Courtney, district spokeswoman.
Attendance was down in two Garland ISD schools that received intensive cleaning after parents of four students flew on the same flight. North Garland High had an 18 percent drop and Schrade Middle had a 43 percent drop, said Chris Moore, district spokesman. He said the district plans to do a more exhaustive cleaning at the schools on Saturday.
The county medical society cautioned that deep cleaning of schools could send the wrong message to students about the risk of getting Ebola. “There is no evidence to support ‘deep cleaning’ or similar actions for schools related to the current Ebola situation,” it reads.
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