Volume 17, Number 4—April 2011
Letter
Effect of School Closure from Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Vanessa G. Jarquin
, David B. Callahan, Nicole J. Cohen, Victor Balaban, Rose Wang, Ricardo Beato, Paran Pordell, Otilio Oyervides, Wan-Ting Huang, Harvey Lipman, Daniel Fishbein, and Mehran S. Massoudi
, David B. Callahan, Nicole J. Cohen, Victor Balaban, Rose Wang, Ricardo Beato, Paran Pordell, Otilio Oyervides, Wan-Ting Huang, Harvey Lipman, Daniel Fishbein, and Mehran S. Massoudi
Table
Household responses (n = 172) related to school closure as a result of pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Chicago, Illinois, USA, April 29–May 5, 2009
| Response |
No. (%) |
| Highest education level of parent or guardian | |
| None | 2 (1) |
| Elementary school | 48 (28) |
| Junior high school | 9 (5) |
| High school | 59 (34) |
| Some college | 29 (17) |
| Advanced degree | 21 (12) |
| No response |
4 (2) |
| Employment status of parent or guardian | |
| Full time | 54 (31) |
| Part time | 37 (22) |
| Student | 6 (4) |
| Retired | 2 (1) |
| Unemployed | 17 (10) |
| Stay-at-home | 53 (31) |
| Other/no response |
3 (2) |
| Receipt of closure information by parent or guardian* | 142 (84) |
| School | 89 (63) |
| Radio or television news | 81 (57) |
| Other parents/students | 17 (12) |
| Student | 5 (4) |
| Press conference | 4 (3) |
| Internet |
3 (2) |
| Found closure difficult for self or family* | 105 (61) |
| Fear about H1N1 | 74 (70) |
| Uncertainty about duration of closure | 70 (66) |
| Fear about family’s health | 66 (62) |
| Schedule changes | 33 (31) |
| Student missing school meals | 26 (25) |
| Child care arrangements | 21 (20) |
| Loss of income because of lost work time | 17 (16) |
| High cost of child care arrangements | 13 (12) |
| Transportation difficulties | 12 (11) |
| Student missing education | 3 (3) |
| Behavioral concerns related to disability |
1 (1) |
| Student activities during closure* | |
| Did homework | 125 (73) |
| Went to a public place | 63 (37) |
| Went to home of another family member | 43 (25) |
| Got together with <6 friends | 29 (17) |
| Went to afterschool extracurricular activity | 20 (12) |
| Got together with >6 friends | 13 (8) |
| Slept at a friend’s house | 5 (3) |
| Went to afterschool program | 5 (3) |
| Alternate child care arrangements made† |
13 (8) |
| *Response categories were not mutually exclusive. †Mean cost of alternate childcare $45. | |
Page created: July 25, 2011
Page updated: July 25, 2011
Page reviewed: July 25, 2011
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