A flu shot clinic is held on campus every fall for students, faculty, and staff.
Brewster’s planning and response to the spread of influenza will continue to be guided by recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) as well as with consultation from the Academy’s physicians.
The following information is provided here to guide the Brewster community during the school year. As information and updates on the influenza virus become available, we will update this page as necessary.
Daily Prevention Strategies
Note: As recommended by the CDC and the NHDHHS, we will isolate students with a fever and/or send them home. It is important to note, however, that this does not mean that these students have the flu.
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Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
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Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread this way.
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Students should not share water bottles, drinks, utensils, etc. with others.
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Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
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If you are sick with flu-like illness (including a fever of 100.4 degrees F or higher, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and extreme tiredness), the CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.) Keep away from others as much as possible. This is to keep from making others sick.
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While sick, limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
Illness Guidelines
Boarding Students
If students exhibit influenza-like symptoms, including fever of 100.4 degrees F or higher, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and extreme tiredness, they should report to the Health Center immediately. If a student’s home is within a day’s drive from campus, parents will be asked to pick up students and keep them home until they have been 24 hours without a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications) and regardless of whether or not they are using antiviral drugs. For students who live too far to go home, they will be housed in either the health center or their dorm (with steps taken to isolate the student as much as possible within the dorm setting).
Day Students
If students exhibit influenza-like symptoms, including fever of 100.4 degrees F or higher, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and extreme tiredness, they should stay home. Students should not return to campus until they have been 24 hours without a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications) and regardless of whether or not they are using antiviral drugs. If students develop these symptoms while on campus, they will be sent home.
Faculty and Staff
Both residential and non-residential faculty and staff should follow these student guidelines.
Seasonal Influenza Vaccination
According to the CDC, the best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccination each year. The seasonal flu vaccine protects against the three seasonal viruses that research suggests will be most common. Each fall, Brewster holds a seasonal flu vaccination clinic on campus. All students are required* to have a seasonal flu vaccination. Flu Vaccine Permission Forms are due July 15. Parents may arrange to have the vaccine given by their family physician and must provide documentation that it was given.
*In the event of an on-campus outbreak of the seasonal flu, students who have not been vaccinated against the seasonal flu, will be required to leave campus.
School Closing
In the event of a widespread campus outbreak of influenza, the Academy will take the above precautionary measures, continue to monitor the situation closely here and abroad, and act in accordance with regional, state, and national guidelines.
Although the CDC does not recommend closing schools impacted by the influenza virus, should the virus cause severe and widespread illness within the Brewster community, forcing the school to suspend classes or close, parents will be notified immediately. All decisions about school closing will be made upon the recommendation, advice, and counsel of the CDC and state and local agencies.
Efforts will be made to ensure that students do not fall behind in their work. Faculty will contact students via e-mail regarding assignments and students may be directed to the Brewster Portal to pick up or turn in work. Parents and students can communicate with the teachers via e-mail or phone.
Informative Websites
The following websites are informative resources regarding the influenza virus:
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
World Health Organization