The Coventry Local School District announced on Facebook it would be closed on Tuesday because of a lack of available bus drivers due to an unusually high number of seasonal illnesses.
Constellation Schools announced on Facebook Tuesday that Madison Community Elementary will be closed due to illness.
St. Hilary School in Fairlawn, which, according to its website, has about 600 students and 100 staff, posted on Facebook that more than 20% of kids and 15% of staff were out due to illness. The school also posted photos on Facebook with a shoutout to their maintenance team for the deep cleaning underway.
Doctor Camille Sabella, the director of the pediatric infectious disease department at Cleveland Clinic, said many respiratory viruses are circulating across Northeast Ohio right now. Influenza A is the top troublemaker, but there is still lingering RSV, rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, norovirus, and some COVID-19 cases.
He said they’re seeing kids sick with more than one virus at a time or getting them back-to-back.
He said these viruses can all look the same, especially in younger children: fever, breathing problems, coughing, and pneumonia.
Sabella said while most children will recover fine from these infections, there are red flags.
“Certainly, anything out of the ordinary like breathing problems, shortness of breath, increased work of breathing, breathing faster than normal — those are all signs that should warrant prompt evaluation,” Sabella said.
He said the best ways to prevent illness right now are common-sense practices.
“A lot of hand washing,” he said. “That’s probably the one most important thing and most effective thing that you can do is frequent hand washing. Certainly, if you’re sick, especially if you’re having fever and cough, you should probably stay home. And staying away from anyone who’s ill, especially if you’re immunocompromised or have a chronic medical condition.”
He is hopeful flu season is peaking and on its way down.
He said anecdotally that the flu shot appears to be helping kids avoid severe illness and stay out of the hospital.
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