Outbreak of illnesses closes Chickasaw school

CHICKASAW, Ala. (WPMI) — Right now --- the flu is widespread across the state causing many children to take off from school.

According to a map provided by Alabama Department of Public Health, Alabama is in the red, meaning we now have one of the highest activity levels of influenza like illnesses in the country.

This data comes as the Chickasaw Early Learning Center was forced to close its doors for the rest of the week due to the center having seen an uptick of the flu and other illnesses!

Dozens of kids were sent home from school this week with a fever.

Now, they're taking time off to sanitize the building.

Their attendance has been down for two weeks and they want to make sure everything is germ free before the kids go back.

"We have had quite a large number of students out with flu, strep, different viruses, a lot of fevers, so we figured this would be the best way to stop it," says Chickasaw Director of Support Services Jodie McPherson.

Sickness is on the rise at Chickasaw Early Learning Center shutting the school down for two days.

"Tuesday we had 9 children we sent home out of the Pre-K with fevers of 101 or more. Six were confirmed with the flu, those 6 were in the same class so we kept an eye on it yesterday-- by 10 we already sent four or five more home and we knew we were in trouble," says Chickasaw City Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Joe Walters.

Teachers are working hard to break this trend- disinfecting their classrooms, making sure all learning materials are sterilized.

"It's easily spread. There is always that opportunity to spike up in one place," says Dr. Walters.

Susan's Holman's preschool class had the most sick children sending a red flag to some parents.

"We have. Actually, last week our class had 6 out the 17 out at some point in time during the week and I think even the parents were concerned coming in on Monday," says Holman.

She says taking these precautions is very important. It can save others from getting sick.

"They also have siblings that are older and younger. We even have some newborns in the community that are our students siblings," says Holman.

Chickasaw is the first school in our area to shut down this year for an illness. Interim superintendent Dr. Joe Walters says he didn't want other Mobile and Baldwin County Schools to have a spike in the flu or strep

and some parents are happy about it.

"The ones that are sick are glad because they aren't missing nothing and the one's that are well are really excited because they don't want them here with the ones sick," says Dr. Walters.

Teachers say all of the kids are together at some point in the day and it's very important to keep your children home for at least 24 hours after being sick.