To fight flu, school bans touching

By Jennifer McLogan~CBS

As students across America prepare to head back to school, officials and parents are bracing for a spike in swine flu cases. With the possibility that nearly 2 million people will be hospitalized, and 90,000 people across the country could die, one Long Island school district is taking no chances and has set into place a new “hands-off” approach to fighting the swine flu.

Chest bumps. High fives. Hugs and handshakes. Glen Cove Middle School students Ali Slaughter and Hannah Seltzer say that’s what friends do on the first day of school. But when students in the Nassau community return to school next week, the superintendent will be urging abstinence. Everyone from the tiniest tots to the biggest high school football players will be asked to limit skin-on-skin contact in an attempt to prevent the spread of swine flu when it re-emerges this fall.

“It will [be hard] because you really like your friends and you didn’t get to see them,” Seltzer tells CBS 2.

Glen Cove high schooler Erica Cohen is on the soccer team, but says she knows even in a game that involves close physical content, she’ll have to be as careful as she can be.

“I don’t really think it’s such a big deal, if you wash your hands after — I think it’s just you really can’t avoid it,” she says.

Lorena Galo filled out her health form and decided she can’t give up hugging. “We’re still going to hug either way,” she says.

The policy is unorthodox and could be difficult to enforce, but Nassau Health Commissioner Dr. Maria Torroella Carney says it’s a good way to educate awareness.

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