The Fraser Health Region, which incudes South Delta, has posted the highest number of reported severe H1N1 case to date in B.C. But of the 166 tallied as of Nov. 3, none include students from South Delta’s public schools.

The Delta School District reports the average weekly absentee rate of 10 per cent has risen slightly to a high of 14 per cent.

“But even with the increase in the absenteeism rate we’re yet to have any reported confirmed cases of H1N1,” said the district’s spokesperson Kay Thody.

While last week's data showed an increase in some schools of up to 14 per cent, numbers this week show schools in South Delta experiencing a decrease in the overall absenteeism rate, with zero schools experiencing an absenteeism rate greater than 10 per cent of the overall student population.

“H1N1 can not be monitored specifically as we are not in a position to diagnose at a school level, however all school absenteeism rates as well as the reason for the absenteeism are reported (illness, field trip, parental note, etc.) and recorded,” Thody said. “In consideration of the virus, the district’s Health and Safety Officer follows up with schools individually to further monitor absenteeism related to flu and flu like symptoms.”

As for the general population, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall predicted this week the H1N1 flu virus may ultimately kill only a small fraction of the 200 to 800 B.C. residents who die each year from seasonal flu.

“If we are where we think we are in this, I would think we would see under 50 deaths in B.C., which is way less than we would see with seasonal influenza,” Kendall said Tuesday.

But unlike seasonal flu, which kills mainly the elderly, Kendall noted the largest number of deaths involve people in their 40s or 50s, some of them perfectly healthy.

He spoke Tuesday (Nov. 2) after statistics were released showing another three people have died in B.C. of H1N1 flu over the past week, two of them in the Fraser Health region, bringing the total number of B.C. deaths to 15 so far.

The two new swine flu deaths in Fraser were an adult man and adult woman in their 30s or 40s, both with major underlying medical conditions.

The third new death was in the Vancouver Coastal health region, described as a patient closer to 20 years of age who suffered a sudden death that remains under investigation.

It’s thought sudden deaths in young patients may be because H1N1, like other flu viruses, can sometimes attack the heart.

An additional 162 people were hospitalized with H1N1 flu over the past week, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

That’s an 81 per cent jump in H1N1 hospitalizations from 199 a week ago, bringing the total severe B.C. cases requiring hospital stays to 361.

Seventy nine of the new hospitalizations in the past week were in Fraser Health, while 50 were in Vancouver Coastal, 17 were in the Interior and eight each were in the North or on Vancouver Island.

So far 28 per cent of the severe cases in B.C. involve patients with no underlying diseases or medical conditions. The rest —nearly three-quarters— had varying conditions.Twenty-five per cent of hospitalized cases have been admitted to ICU.

To help with administering the flu vaccine for those who are unable to arrange shots through a doctor’s office a public clinic will be set up at the Ladner Community Centre (4734 51st Street ) next Monday (Nov. 9). Times to be announced.

Information on more clinics in the Fraser Health region is available at www.fraserhealth.ca.

—with files from Philip Raphael and Kristine Salzmann