Moon Mountain parents and students are on edge

Student who became Arizona's first confirmed swine flu patient has fully recovered and returned to class; parents not reassured.

Moon Mountain Elementary School, off 19th Ave. south of Thunderbird Rd. in north Phoenix, dismissed early on Wednesday. However, it was the Washington Elementary School District's normal early-dismissal day. By that point it had been determined that the school would be closed for a week as a precaution, even though health officials said the 8-year-old boy, who missed most of last week with the disease, had recovered and returned to classes on Monday.

Parents who talked with KFYI News said they received a letter that was sent home with their student urging the parents to make sure their kids wash their hands regularly, cover their sneezes and coughs, and refrain from associating with other children from the school in case anyone has been infected. One parent said "that kinds makes you panic."

Another woman, the parent of a girl who previously attended Moon Mountain and has moved on to nearly Mountain Sky Middle School, said many Mountain Sky students have younger siblings or friends at Moon Mountain, and wonders whether the middle school should also be closed as a precaution. She added that her daughter has read about the swine flu outbreak on her computer, worried about what might happen if it came to her school, and asked whether that would mean that she might die. "I don't know what to tell her," the mother said.

A Moon Mountain student, the same age as the boy who contracted swine flu, said she's "kinda nervous and scared, and my other classmates were scared too 'cuz they might get it. So I was kinda cautious about how I, like, hugged somebody."