‘We’re seeing a lot of illness being passed around at schools’: Central Texas school districts brace for severe flu season

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Adults aren’t the only ones being impacted by the early onset of flu season this year.

Kids across Central Texas are catching the flu, RSV, and other viral illnesses that can easily spread across schools.

“We’re seeing quite a bit of increase in illnesses amongst adults and children,” Tim Martindale, MD of Family Medicine, told KWTX. “Especially children, because all the rules are off right now it seems like.”

According to the CDC, recent data shows that the 0-4 and 5-24 age groups are experiencing the highest percentages of doctor visits for respiratory illnesses right now.

Not only are young people getting hit with the flu, but with rising cases of RSV and COVID-19, too. Officials have coined this the ‘tridemic.’

“We’re seeing lots of flu, lots of strep, lots of COVID still, some RSV, and assorted other things,” Martindale said.

This uptick in cases among kids means an even greater spread among schools.

“We’re seeing a lot of illness being passed around at schools, because there’s not really any caution, and we’re just glad to be together again,” Martindale added.

Local school officials agreed. “We’ve had an increase in kids being out sick, so that certainly could be flu or RSV,” Michael Novotny, the Superintendent of Salado ISD, said.

“Last week, we had five or six cases and already we have eight and it’s only Wednesday,” Amy Hudson, the Director of Health Services at CCISD, told KWTX. “And also there are a lot of kids missing from school.”

Novotny and Hudson say their school districts are taking all of the preventative measures they can to curb this spread.

“In terms of cleaning the classrooms, disinfecting, making sure when kids are not well, they go home,” Novotny said. “We encourage kids to wash their hands, to prevent the spread of germs.”

“Whenever we notice that there’s a higher number of kids missing from a classroom or something, we go in there,” Hudson mimicked. “The nurse usually lets the cleaning staff know there’s been a lot of cases in that room, and they go in there and do extra cleaning in that room.”

Just as with adults, healthcare professionals encourage children to get vaccinated, too.

“Consider doing a flu shot,” Martindale urges. “Flu is bad right now and it’s just gonna get worse.”

The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older get a flu vaccine each year to stay protected.

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