Flu hitting local school districts hard

Dec. 19—With flu season hitting harder and earlier than usual, Rogue Valley school districts have seen unusually high absence rates, causing some schools to close entirely.

Citing a "stew" of viruses, Rogue River Elementary School shut down Dec. 14, prompting an early start to winter break. The week before, Prospect Charter School closed down for the same reason, noting a high number of staff were infected.

"It's not like we haven't faced some of this stuff before," Prospect Superintendent Daye Stone said earlier in the week. "We've got to keep our finger on the pulse dealing with sickness."

Stone's counterpart, Phil Long, who leads the Butte Falls Charter School District, did not have to shutter operations, but he sent out a letter to families recently alerting them of the viral load. That came even before a 40% absence rate this past Monday, which ticked down a smidge to 30% by week's end.

"Across the valley, schools are experiencing unusually high levels of absenteeism due to illnesses," Long wrote Dec. 8. "Today we have seen a spike in absences as the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 affect our families. Please check your student for symptoms when they get home and monitor them."

Long said the charter school experienced its highest student absenteeism rate — 25%, the day he sent the letter. Still, enough staff were on hand to operate the school.

Elsewhere in the valley, other school districts also reported high student absent rates.

Ashland schools Superintendent Samuel Bogdanove said Helman Elementary School reached 20% one day in early December, and TRAILS Outdoor School reached 20% of students absent for "a brief period."

"This is something we might see in January or February during peak flu in a typical year," the superintendent wrote in an email.

He added that officials have increased cleaning routines and hand-washing reminders at all of its schools. But it's more than just the school that's helping to protect against flu, Bogdanove noted.

"We are grateful to families for keeping symptomatic students at home," he wrote. "Parents and guardians with questions about when their child is ready to return can reach out to their school attendance staff or school nursing."

In the Phoenix-Talent School District, Phoenix Elementary School reported a 17.74% absence rate while other schools in that district had between 11% and 15% absent. No schools in those districts have had to close, officials said.

Medford School District reported a 15.5% absence rate, five points above the year-round average. But school officials noted not all of it can be attributed to illness.

At least one Medford-based school, Griffin Creek Elementary, recently sent out an automated message to its families asking them to keep ill children home.

"We are experiencing a high volume of ill students in the Rogue Valley and at Griffin Creek Elementary School," the call said. It asked families whose child is ill to leave a message telling officials what the symptoms are.

"We are trying to help the state of Oregon health department keep track of symptoms," the call said.

It was referring to Oregon Health Authority, which posts a weekly surveillance report on influenza called "Flu Bites." The most recent report — dated Dec. 15, but showing data for the week before that — showed the percentage of positive flu tests in Oregon had risen from 29% to 32.3% — with 774 positive tests in Southern Oregon. During the week of Nov. 20-26, the positivity rate had nearly doubled from 16% to 30% over the previous week.

The report also showed that since late October, schools and day care centers have reported more influenza outbreaks than any other type of entity during the current flu season.

That high amount of flu activity has led many school districts to report to Jackson County Public Health. Schools must do so when absences reach 20% for a classroom and 30% for a school. Both percentages apply only to those who are absent with respiratory illness. One classroom at an unspecified school in Central Point surpassed the 20% threshold a month ago, but it was not clear whether any local schools had hit 30%.

"It lets us know that there's probably an outbreak going on," said Leona O'Keefe, health officer for Jackson County Public Health. "What we do is provide guidance to the school on infection control; we help support the school with their communication with their outbreak response."

Those kinds of solutions from county public health often are quicker for school district officials to utilize than consulting a pages-long disease plan authored by the health authority and Oregon Department of Education, O'Keefe added.

The percentages of absences in schools or classrooms are passed along to the state to give it an idea of "how much disease burden" is in the community, O'Keefe said.

She made clear county public health does not make decisions to close schools; that is done by the districts.

Asked what the two-week winter break might mean for attendance rates come January, O'Keefe said it is hard to predict. That is because time with friends and family might increase transmission of viruses, but "the natural trajectory of each virus over time" must be taken into account, as well.

"When schools reopen after break, we do often see an initial increase in illnesses as everyone brings their exposures back into the single location, and then it settles back into a rhythm shortly after," O'Keefe said.

She said clinicians like herself are "learning a lot this winter."

"This is our first time experiencing all of these viruses simultaneously," O'Keefe said. "It is important that we maintain humility and vigilance as we move through this winter."

Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or kopsahl@rosebudmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.