Worried parents keep kids home

NST: KUCHING, SARAWAK: Where have all the children gone? This is what visitors to the city may ask in the wake of the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreak here.
This has led to parents pulling their children out of schools and avoiding public places like shopping complexes until the crisis is over.
A random survey among schools here showed that most Standard One, Two and Three classes were empty.
Patrons at shopping complexes comprised largely adults with few children in tow.
Parents interviewed said they were not taking chances with new cases coming to light daily.
MAS flight steward David Gregory, 40, said his lifestyle had changed as the first thing he did every time he returned home was to wash his hands.
The father of three said he and his wife Anita could not hug their children on returning home as they had to make sure they were clean first.
"We now have to wash up or take our bath before we touch them," he said, adding that his older children, Amanda, 13, and Ashleigh, 10, also had to do so before holding four-year-old Daryl.
Gregory said he and his wife were worried for their children’s health when the HFMD outbreak was announced.
They feared the worst as the coxsackie epidemic in 1997 in Sibu had killed 31 children.
Single mother Nurasikin Mohd Marikan, 31, said she had left her four-year-old son, Mohd Zhul Aqeed, with her 61-year-old mother.
"His kindergarten has been closed for three weeks and I have to work. So, this is a good solution for us."
The Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) receptionist calls home three times a day to check on her son.
"Zhul is keen to return to class, but I will only send him back when the epidemic is under control," she said.
Sandra Logie, 32, said she worried every time relatives visited her Taman Linang home as they could be carriers of the virus.
Her children Sean Isik Patrick, 10, daughter Kim Randu, 9, and Shyrqarl Bryan, 4, have not left the house since the outbreak.
"I get very paranoid these days. I lost my first-born and I don’t want to lose any of my children due to negligence," she added.
Playing outdoors is out of the question as she fears a squatter settlement nearby could be a possible source of the disease.

Meanwhile, 17 primary schools ordered to temporarily close early this month re-opened yesterday.
The schools were in Miri (six), Kuching (five), Mukah (five) and Limbang (one).
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan told reporters that the health department will be sending health and dental teams to monitor the schools.
Three primary schools — SK Riam in Miri and SK Abang Amin and SK Nanga Strass, both in Sarikei — were ordered to close yesterday.
These schools had 17 pupils suspected to have symptoms of the HFMD disease.
Another 75 suspected cases of HFMD were reported in the State over the last 24 hours, bringing the total so far to 6,793.