INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Evening Star, Issue 22596, 13 March 1937, Page 16

INFANTILE PARALYSIS

REOPENING OF SCHOOLS POSITION IN OAMARU AND BALCLUTHA The matter of reopening schools in areas in Otago where there have been recent cases of infantile paralysis has been left in the hands of the local Medical Officer of Health and the Otago Education Board. The malady is not regarded as now being in epidemic form in either Oamaru or Balclutha—the two centres where schools are still closed. It is quite possible that there may still be an occasional case, but it is not considered that the reopening of the schools now would have any effect on the position. At the same time it is recognised that many parents in the areas referred to are apprehensive, and that even if the schools were reopened many children would be kept at home. It has, therefore, been decided that all schools in the Oamaru district at present closed remain closed until after Easter, to reopen on Wednesday, March 31. This covers schools on the main line from Maheno to the Waitaki River and schools lying inland from Oamaru up to a distance of about 28 miles. So far as South Otago is concerned the Balclutha School will remain closed until after Easter, and any other school in the near vicinity which has been closed may remain so, if the school committee and parents are still apprehensive. The Medical Officer of Health suggests that the secondary schools in these two areas should act similarly. Should a school child contract the malady in any school district where the school is open the school must be closed at once for a repiod of 10 days. Past experience in New Zealand and elsewhere has been that the epidemic dies out when winter conditions set in. The teachers of most of the schools at present closed have introduced tuition by correspondence, and the Education Board and senior inspector will further the scope of this work next week, with the co-operation of the National Broadcasting Service as detailed elsewhere. THREE CASES [Per United Press Association.! INVERCARGILL, March 12. Two more positive cases of infantile paralysis and one suspected case have been admitted to the Southland Hospital. The patients are a girl aged 15 and a boy aged five, both positive, and a boy of four.