Schools in Webster City and Sioux City are closed today as more than 20% of their kids are out sick, and an elementary in the Laurens-Marathon district was closed Tuesday for the same reason.
Siouxland District Health Department spokesman Tyler Brock in Sioux City says it appears schools across the state are impacted by respiratory infections. “It can be frustrating with these respiratory viruses cause it seems like no matter what we do, it’s kinda hard to avoid it,” he says. “We’re not quite out of the woods yet, but I hopefully we’ll start seeing some improvement in the next couple of weeks.”
Brock says there’s more than one illness causing the trouble. “Most of the influenza that we’re seeing is influenza A but it’s not just flu. There’s there’s some COVID floating around, their strep floating around, there’s even some norovirus, which is more of a diarrheal type illness that’s going around as well,” Brock says “Honestly, if you can think of it, if it’s a virus right now, it’s probably being circulated at the moment.”
He says he’s heard some of the over-the-counter remedies are in short supply. “Some of those antivirals, like a Tamiflu, it can be useful, especially in some of our more high risk individuals. But you really got to hit it early on in the illness. If you try to take Tamiflu days and days after you’ve already been sick then the impact is going to be very minimal,” Brock says. Brock says the best thing for parents to do is keep children home from school when sick.
Laurens-Marathon Principal Hannah Zylstra knows the problem first-hand as she has two kids sick with Influenza A. “It’s a hard call to make. You don’t want to cancel school because of things like this, but in reality, if it’s what’s best for our children, yes,” Zylstra says. There were more than 25% of students out sick and the buildings were disinfected so students could return to class today. Canceling classes gives everyone a chance to try and recover. “I hope everyone can get the rest they need, get feeling better and get this season behind us, even though we’re just in the middle of it,” she says.
School districts report to the state when more than 10%of students are out due to illness. The most recent data released for the week that ended on January 25th shows more than 100 school buildings statewide impacted by illness.
(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City/Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)