Roughly Half of a Virginia School’s Students Are Sick With the Flu

All 50 states closed schools in some capacity during the 2019-2020 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools reopen, they have faced a variety of issues, some separate from the spread of COVID-19.

Nearly half of a Virginia high school’s student body is out sick with a flu outbreak that may have started during the homecoming dance earlier this month.

Roughly 670 students were out sick on Monday, a number that was close to a thousand last week. A school official said that many of the students have tested positive for influenza and some are suffering from gastrointestinal issues that may be due to the flu or another sickness.

Stafford High School in Fredericksburg, Virginia, reportedly serves around 2,100 students. School officials canceled athletics and after-school activities earlier this week, but classes remain open. The school announced on Monday that extracurricular activities would resume on Tuesday, but athletic competitions will remain on hold to prevent spreading the illness to other schools. The school’s football team already had to forfeit one game after a makeup game was canceled.

Officials say they will keep deep cleaning the school and disinfecting surfaces until attendance returns to normal, adding that Virginia Health Services (VHS) recommended that the school remain open. The school’s water fountains and food services have been investigated by school officials, who do not believe they are connected to the outbreak.

It is unknown how so many kids contracted the virus, though the Stafford student paper speculated it may have been during the homecoming dance, which was attended by “more than 1,200 students” and held in a cafeteria roughly the size of a football field on October 15.

School division spokesperson Sandra Osborn said in an email to The Free Lance-Star that the district “will re-evaluate activities later this week.”