(Oct. 23) -- As more students fall ill with the H1N1 virus, schools in several states are shutting their doors.
In Michigan, where the virus has sent student absentee rates soaring, 194 schools have closed.
In other states, communities have decided to shutter schools due to high absentee rates, an abundance of caution, or both. Isolated schools have been closed down in Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, Florida and Massachusetts.
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Charles Krupa, AP
Officials in Grafton, Mass., said the local high school would close for two days next week following an outbreak of the H1N1 virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said H1N1 is now widespread in 47 states.
In California, Browns Valley Elementary School remains closed following the death of first-grader Alexis Clara, who was infected with H1N1. After news of Alexis' death was made public, attendance at Browns Valley dropped by 25 percent.
"Probably some parents kept kids at home out of concern," said Dr. Michael Stacey, deputy health officer for Solano County, where the elementary school is located. "But just as in the rest of the country, the number of people in Solano County who are presenting with flu-like symptoms has jumped in the past couple of weeks."
Browns Valley Elementary will remain closed until Oct. 27. Officials hope that by then, anyone who was exposed at the school will have already gotten sick and recovered.
"Most people get sick within four days from the time of exposure," Stacey said.
According to the CDC, H1N1 has hit children the hardest. Those under the age of 25 account for 53 percent of all hospitalizations. So far, more than 100 children have died in the United States.
But statistics on who the virus affects may change in coming weeks, according to a report issued by Quest Diagnostics, a manufacturer of a test that can confirm the presence of H1N1. That's because the virus is starting to spread to the non-school-age population as children bring it home.
For the moment, however, young people are being treated with special care. Just as schools across the country are taking measures to isolate the virus, hospitals from coast to coast have also enacted new rules, banning children who are not seeking medical treatment from visiting hospitals, lest they further spread H1N1.
The matter of when to close a given school, however, is no easy call.
"Our decision was based on the fact that we'd confirmed presence of H1N1 in the school," Stacey said, "along with a sudden spike in the number of absentees."
