Winter flu spike impacts Big Country education schedule

MERKEL, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Multiple school districts across the Big Country have decided to close its campuses for a few days to allow students and staff to heal from an illness going around. The first wave came from Merkel ISD on Tuesday, which said the school would be sanitized while its halls are empty.

Anson, Benjamin ISDs close campuses due to ‘extremely high numbers’ of illnesses & absences

Merkel ISD decided to close all campuses Wednesday and Thursday, January 24 and 25, due to a significant rise in illnesses among district staff and students. At the time of this article’s publishing, Merkel ISD planned to open the campus on Friday.

Local authorities told KTAB/KRBC the illness the school district cited for its closure is nothing more than the flu and a few cases of strep throat. While these viruses are usually nothing a few days of rest can’t solve, at a certain points the sheer number of absences can be detrimental to the overall educational environment.

One Merkel ISD mother said she picked her 10th and 6th graders up from school early on Tuesday because they, too, felt under the weather- both showing all the telltale symptoms of this common winter affliction.

“Around lunch, the schools decided that they needed to shut down, which I completely agree with. We have so many kids and teachers having to be out because they’re sick… Headaches, body aches, low grade fever, cough, stuff like that,” the mother listed.

A follow up post on the Merkel ISD Facebook page clarified which scheduled events would and would not be taking place over the following Wednesday and Thursday.

The mother said she understands that things like this happen from time to time in public education and she is happy to see the district taking preemptive action to deal with it, “Our superintendent’s really great. He tries to face things head on, and I think they were just trying to be proactive in shutting it down… Y’know, we gotta get this sickness under control.”

A 2014 Harvard study on the spread of the flu cites three of the most popular theories as to why we so often see a spike in the virus when the temperature drops:

KTAB/KRBC also spoke with Theresa Alonso, a woman who drove about four hours to Merkel on Tuesday to pick up and look after her grandchildren during the break while their parents work. She said she was happy to make the trip for them, but it was certainly no small task.

“They’re my grandbabies. I put everything on hold to be here for the rest of the week,” Alonso explained.

After all, the break was done for the good of public health, and like many grandmothers, she said she’d take any reason she can to spend more time with the family, “Oh they love it, they get spoiled rotten when I’m here.”

Anson and Benjamin (Knox County) ISDs also announced two to three school day closures Wednesday morning beginning Thursday. Anson ISD even encouraged parents to pick their students up from school early if they were able to do so.

In addition, Merkel ISD has a mobile med service on-site to help provide students with medical care.

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