Twenty Hawaii high school students participating in a Pacific and Asian Affairs Council study tour of South Korea were quarantined because five of them had slightly elevated temperatures after their flight landed yesterday at Seoul Inchon Airport.

    Hawaii High School Students Quarantined in South Korea

 

 

Twenty students and four chaperones are in Seoul hoping they do not test positive for swine flu.

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The five students had temperatures in the range of 100 degrees when screened via thermal scans that are given to all passengers to prevent the spread of swine flu, or the H1N1 virus.

PAAC Executive Director Jill Takasaki Canfield said, “;Everyone is fine and they're just waiting for the test results.”;

The five were given blood tests and are quarantined at the National Hospital, a PAAC release said. The remaining 15 students and their four chaperones are quarantined at their hotel until the test results come in. Canfield did not know if the blood tests would take hours or days.

“;The students are bored,”; Canfield said, after talking to chaperone Natasha Chappel, director of the high school program.

The public school students, who were able to speak with their parents, left Hawaii on Monday and were scheduled to return July 5. The tour will include visits to Seoul, Gyeongju, Busan and Geoje. Students will get to interact with international, educational, diplomatic and business entities.

It is expected the students will continue with the annual free study scholarship program to Asia, as they were certified to travel by their physicians prior to departure, the release said.