Flu outbreaks at Cape school district not as bad as elsewhere

Flu outbreaks have caused several school districts, including several in Southeast Missouri, to cancel classes recently because of low attendance.

The Cape Girardeau School District, however, so far has avoided having to take such action. Superintendent James Welker said Friday there have been a number of flu cases so far.

"We have noticed a kind of an increase in cases of student illness and some staff illness recently," he said. "We've been monitoring our attendance, and attendance has dipped slightly, but it's still above 90 percent. I think yesterday it was at 92.8 [percent] ... Generally, it runs 95, 96 percent, so it is down a little bit."

Welker said current rates are comparable to previous years, and the school district takes steps each winter to mitigate the effects of the illness.

"One of the things we provide additional supplies to buildings for sanitizer to help," he said. "... We've instructed our custodians to take some additional precautions in terms of sanitizing and disinfecting."

He said staff have been instructed to pay extra attention to keeping high-contact objects and areas such as doorknobs clean.

The Clarkton, Neelyville, and Twin Rivers school districts, all south of Cape Girardeau, have been forced to cancel classes recently amid widespread flu cases.

Welker said they're not close to being in the same position.

"Here, there would probably be a lot of things to take into consideration as far as to whether or not we'd close down. As long as we're above that 90 percent district wide, we probably wouldn't consider closing," he said. "And 90's not necessarily the magic number. It would probably have to get down into the 80s, the low 80s, before we'd consider that."

He said the school district hasn't closed because of flu outbreaks in the past.

"We certainly were concerned, but I don't think it's ever been low enough that we've ever called school off," he said. "When we get outbreaks of flu or another type of illness, we do monitor it closely."

He said upcoming long weekends likely will boost attendance rates by giving students and teachers a chance to rest and giving administrators the chance to do some disinfecting.

Welker said the flu typically doesn't hit one age group over another.

"Sometimes we'll get different buildings or a class, but I don't think there's a particular building or particular grade level," he said. "Certainly if students are sick, it helps that they stay home so that we minimize it in terms of spreading the illness, but hopefully we'll get through this and get past this flu season without it getting too much worse.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627