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Swine flu halts athletics at Philly-area school


This certainly isn't the first incident of its kind, but its proximity to York-Adams counties certainly merits mention. Earlier on Wednesday, Philly.com reported that Archbishop Carroll High School will be closed Thursday and Friday due to a report that one of its students has swine flu, and two others are exhibiting symptoms of the illness. All athletic events on those two days have been canceled.

Fran Murphy, the school's athletic director, told the Web site the school would reassess the situation Saturday and decide on a course of action. Archbishop Carroll -- which is based out of Radnor, a suburb of Philadelphia -- was scheduled to play a football game 3 p.m. Saturday, but that game looks like a long shot.

Cases like this have popped up throughout the country periodically, usually with similar effects. It has, for the most part, not affected high schools in York County, although a case of swine flu was reported at Northern York High School last month.

Having talked to a few athletic directors in the area a few weeks ago about swine flu and other health concerns (like MRSA) it seems as though schools are doing all they can to help prevent the spread of such illnesses. Some of the measures mentioned included disinfecting locker rooms and training rooms every day after practices, encouraging the use of disposable plastic cups for drinking water at practice and making sure athletes wash clothes and pads every day.

Other than that increased vigilance, it doesn't seem there's much more to be done. And though all the athletic directors I talked to were certainly concerned, at least one -- Northern's Gerald Schwille -- said, at this point, he didn't think swine flu was a "big deal" in this area.