28 Mar 2008
In response to enquiries concerning the wearing of surgical mask by teachers and school children after school resumption, a spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) gave the following advice to schools and parents:
“If there is no influenza outbreak at the school, teachers and schoolchildren without any flu-like symptom are not required to wear surgical masks.
If students develop flu-like symptoms in school, the school should provide them with surgical masks and keep them in an isolation room temporarily. The parents should be informed at once to pick the students up to seek medical care.
Staff taking care of the sick students should adopt protective measures, which include performing hand hygiene before and after contact with the students and wearing surgical masks. Details can be found in the Annex V: Use Mask Properly under the Prevention of Influenza: Action Checklist for School Resumption (March 2008) which was distributed to school management. The document is also available in CHP's website ( http://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/Checklist_E_20080325_1930_.pdf ) for public reference.
In case of suspected influenza outbreak in school, the school management should report to the CHP so that epidemiological investigation and necessary preventive measures can be taken. CHP will also advise the school if wearing surgical masks is necessary.