Illness keeping students out of class

Posted By David Gough, COURIER PRESS STAFF

Posted 25 days ago

The flu bug is here.

A key indicator is by the number of students at Wallaceburg District Secondary School missing on Thursday. WDSS principal Roberta Buchanan said that school officials have confirmed that eight per cent of students were absent on Thursday because they were sick at home with the flu.

With a population of 790 students, that means a big chunk of kids were not feeling well.

As the week went on last week, Buchanan said the number of kids sick with the flu increased. In her four years at WDSS, Buchanan said that she has never seen so many kids off with the flu.

With school sports and activities in full swing, students are in close contact with each other. At the Kent high school cross-country meet held on Oct. 21, the Tartan team was decimated by the flu, with eight students at home instead of racing in the championship.

If a student has the flu, it's best for them to stay home instead of coming into school and getting more people sick, Buchanan said.

"Stay home so that you don't spread it around, rest and drink plenty of fluids and if gets worse, call your health care provider," Buchanan advised.

The school is not aware of any students having H1N1, Buchanan said.

Even with a good chunk of students away, it's was still business as usual at WDSS last week. With all the students that were sick, Buchanan said that the flu bug has not hit the staff so far.

"We only have one staff member who is ill, so we continue and just catch students up as they come back."