UPDATE:

County health officials ruled this afternoon that students at Moiola Elementary School in the Fountain Valley School District can return to school Wednesday, following its closure due to one or two probable cases of swine flu.

The Orange County Health Care Agency said in a release at about 2 p.m. that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that schools not be dismissed when a student is suspected or confirmed to have swine flu, unless there is “significant faculty or student absenteeism that interferes with the school’s ability to function.”

“When the original decision to dismiss classes was made, we indicated we would evaluate the decision on an ongoing basis,” said County Health Officer Eric Handler. “We are pleased that the revised guidance from the CDC allowed us to reconsider the need for continued student dismissal at Moiola Elementary School.”

The agency has listed several recommendations for Moiola families upon their children’s return to school.

Students and staff should cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze, wash their hands often with soap and water and try to avoid close contact with sick people. Children should not come to school if they feel ill, the agency said.

Moiola’s closure marked the first time a campus in Orange County has been shut down during the recent epidemic.

Moiola shut its doors Monday morning after officials informed administrators that two students had possibly contracted the swine flu, according to Rina Hansen, an executive assistant for the superintendent.

School officials originally planned to close for one to two weeks.

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In a letter to parents posted on its website, the district said two Moiola students were possible swine flu cases, although Kahn and Howard Sutter, a spokesman for the Orange County Health Care Agency, said they knew of only one probable case.

Kahn said students in the Placentia-Yorba Linda area, Irvine and Anaheim also may have contracted swine flu, but none of those students’ schools closed.

Swine flu has infected 286 Americans in the last month and caused one death in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other cases have been reported in Mexico and Canada.

Kahn stressed that so far, the local strain of swine flu has been milder than “normal” flu, and said that Moiola families should go on with their normal lives, while watching closely for flu symptoms.

“The hallmark of swine flu is a fever of 100 degrees or higher,” she said. If other symptoms are present without the characteristic fever, an individual most likely isn’t infected with swine flu.

“There’s no need to stay home or stay out of the public,” Kahn said. “Just be a little more vigilant.”

Reporter CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com. City Editor MICHAEL MILLER can be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.