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30
The desirability of issuing definite rules to teachers and attendance
officers might be considered by the Education Committee.
As might be expected, though the older children were not generally
excluded, Measles did not spread in the boys' and girls' departments.
It is now held that in the vast majority of instances, if not in
all, Measles is spread as the result of personal contact. It is doubtful
if an apparently healthy person can act as a carrier of infection.
There is always the danger that lurks in the early infectiousness
of Measles, but, for reasons previously stated, the age incidence of the
disease at the present time minimises this risk in the case of boys'
and girls' departments. It is possible that some of the older classes
i-i the infants' departments might be saved the inconvenience of
closure. Except in certain better-class districts 75 per cent. of children
above 5 are protected; yet owing to the exigencies of attendance, the
whole department is closed. Before the withdrawal of Article 10 r of
the old Code, separate classes could be closed. Now, if separate
classes are closed, the average attendance suffers; whilst closure of the
whole department is welcomed when the attendance falls below a certain
mark.
It may be inferred from the foregoing remarks that closure of
the three schools involved w'as resorted to primarily for the sake of
average attendance, and not with any decided hope of checking the
spread of the epidemic. At any rate, it must be admitted that the
latter object was not attained. Under the conditions obtaining in
Urban Districts, it is doubtful if school closure has much effect. But
if school closure is to be of any avail, it must be done at the earliest
opportunity, and at the start of the outbreak. The practice of waiting
until the attendance falls below a certain mark does no good, and the
responsibility of protecting the average attendance could well be
placed on shoulders other than those of the Sanitary Department if
some definite rule be adopted.
At present a very great difference of opinion exists. Dr. May,
the Medical Officer of Health for Aston Manor, submitted to 99
authorities the question of what percentage of children absent from a