One third of the students at a K-12 School in Lewis County are out sick with flu-like symptoms. The Beaver River School had 335 people out sick Tuesday. Our Katie Gibas tells us what the school is doing to prevent any more people from getting sick.
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LEWIS COUNTY, N.Y. -- School and health officials haven't seen anything like it: one third of the student body out sick.
"This is the first time that we've had such an absenteeism and the first time we've had this many reported cases of flu-like symptoms," said Carol Paluck, Lewis County Interim Public Health Director.
A total of 335 students grades K-12 were out sick Tuesday at Beaver River Central School with flu-like symptoms. School officials say this comes after an unprecedented 100 kids went to the nurse's office Monday, with more than half being sent home.
"The flu-like illness came out of nowhere. Friday we had normal attendance. We've been monitoring the situation daily with the school nurse and haven't had any problems or concerns at that point. Yesterday, traffic was up greatly in the nurse's office. They saw 100 students, which is up significantly," said Leueen Smithling, Beaver River Central School Superintendent.
Both school and health officials say there's no reason to panic because they're taking the necessary steps to disinfect the school so no one else gets sick.
"We have some extra disinfecting that we're doing around the building, such as the door handles are getting cleaned every hour. We're cleaning out the student desks and keyboards, disinfecting them at the end of the day," said Smithling.
"I'm actually quite please at how well the district is handling everything. They've been in close contact with our office. They have given parents information on how to deal with this," said Paluck.
Both school and health officials want to remind people to wash their hands often and not send children to school if they're sick.
There will be a forum Wednesday night for parents to meet with school and health officials and ask questions. That will be at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium.