McDade district disinfects after flu sparks school closures

With empty classrooms and quiet hallways, McDade school custodians and maintenance workers spent Thursday disinfecting every desk, whiteboard and bookshelf — “anything that a student could touch,” Superintendent Barbara Marchbanks said.

On Wednesday evening, Marchbanks decided shut down the school district after a flu outbreak precipitously caused attendance levels to drop. Pre-K and kindergarten classes were hit the hardest with attendance levels dipping to 68 percent while first grade reported 78 percent attendance. Districtwide, only 86 percent of students attended classes Wednesday. Of the district’s 377 total students, 40 were absent due to the flu, Marchbanks said.

“By removing everyone from the building, it gives students a time to rest, to get healthy, to take chicken soup and vitamin C,” Marchbanks said Thursday morning. “And then it gives our staff time to go in and sanitize, using bleach and disinfectant spray.”

Buckets, mops and spray bottles were in each classroom as maintenance workers scrubbed every surface of the building. Hallways smelled of citrus-scented disinfectant, and staffers who were on hand had plenty of hand sanitizer to go around.

“Anytime you have to close the schools and think about parents having to find someone else to take care of their children, it’s a hard decision,” Marchbanks said. “Between our staff and students, we have 400 people I’m responsible for. You want to make sure you think it through.”

The closure of an entire school district for health reasons is not out of the ordinary at this time of year. Last year, during a particularly severe flu season that claimed thousands of lives in Texas, about a dozen school districts across the state closed their doors for several days. The Bonham school district closed for an entire week in January after 15 percent of its students were marked absent.

“Every year, a couple school districts around the state make that decision to close down because of a flu outbreak,” said Lara Anton, a Texas Department of State Health Services spokeswoman. “It’s something that the local health department or regional health department will provide consultation on — they will work with them, help them evaluate the situation and help them determine the best way for them to get the virus out.”

Last year’s flu season was classified as “highly severe” by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Travis County officials counted a record-breaking 49 flu-related deaths during the season, which lasts from October to March.

This year, the flu season so far appears to be a milder one, but Anton said it’s too early to tell how it will play out. There’s no telling when flu cases will spike, which, in Texas, often happens between January and February.

“This season right now seems more mild, but we don’t really know because flu seasons vary in when they peak,” Anton said. “I don’t believe that this season has peaked yet. … The amount of illnesses we’re seeing could dramatically go up next week.”

Marchbanks said the virus began affecting McDade's attendance numbers in the early part of January as kids returned from winter break. Similarly, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas in Austin noted an uptick of flu cases around the same time. But while doctors are seeing a seasonal rise of people sick with flu-like symptoms, the number of people infected and the severity of those infections is not what it was last year, according to Dr. Eric Higginbotham, the chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Dell Children’s.

Earlier this month, the children's hospital saw patients with both type A flu, which comes with muscle aches and headaches, and type B, which also includes stomach issues. This year's vaccine is reportedly treating the right strain but is not as effective in preventing the flu, with a 20 to 30 percent efficacy in outright flu prevention. It is also effective in reducing severity of symptom in people who have been vaccinated.

The McDade school district, nestled along U.S. 290 in northern Bastrop County, is scheduled to reopen Monday. Because enough days are built into the school’s calendar, students are not expected to make up the missed class time on a later date, officials said.

Flu prevention tips• Keep good hygiene by thoroughly and frequently washing your hands.

• Get vaccinated with a flu shot each year, preferably in the fall months because it takes about two weeks for full immunity to kick in.

• If you are sick, keep well hydrated and stay away from public places such as school or work until you are 24 to 48 hours fever-free without the aid of a fever reducer.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, and cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.

• Frequently clean and disinfect touched surfaces at home, work or school.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Good health habits for flu prevention