LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18)– Students and staff at Fayette County Public Schools had the day off because illness had a significant impact on attendance.
Tates Creek High School Senior VJ Hall said he only started feeling bad yesterday.
“But then my body started aching, and my nose started running, and my eyes started running,” said Hall.
This morning, Hall said it was confirmed by a doctor that he has the flu. He isn’t the only one. Fayette County School officials say they have been monitoring attendance. They said that absences were higher than average at all but three schools in the county this week.
Officials decided to close school for Friday and deep clean.
“It doesn’t hurt to wipe everything down, but really the biggest thing is hand washing,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hawse at Commonwealth Pediatrics.
Hawse said that she’s seen an increase in just the last few days of kids coming into Commonwealth Pediatrics with the flu. She said that the most important thing is to keep your students home from school if they are sick.
“If your child has a fever they need to stay home until their temperature is less than 100.4 for 24 hours, without any Tylenol or Motrin onboard,” she said.
Parent Shondele Hall said that her best advice is don’t hesitate to get your kids checked out.
“Be sure to just bring them to the doctor as soon as possible because that’s what I did. I told him, if he didn’t feel good this morning, he was going straight to the doctor,” said Shondele Hall.
Doctors say that even if you’ve already had the flu, it is important because there are different types of the flu virus that may spike later in the season.
