TRENTON, Ohio — The Edgewood City School District is closed the rest of the week because of illness among students and staff.
“This message is to inform you that the Edgewood City School District will be closed the rest of the week. This is due to a high percentage of absences and insufficient staff. Students will return to school on Monday, Feb. 10,” Josh Stapleton, gifted services coordinator, said.
In recent weeks, several school districts in the region, including Middletown Christian Schools and Calvary Christian School, have closed due to illnesses.
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Officials at the 10,000-student Fairfield Schools said no classes or building have been closed, but they are closely monitoring the situation.
Edgewood struggled with bus routes this week as many drivers called in sick.
Flu activity in the state is high but has slowed from previous weeks. The latest data showed that increases slowed down, with only a 3.2% increase in flu-related hospitalizations in Ohio.
“For us, it’s calmed down a little bit. It was a lot higher around Christmas time,” said Dr. Mark Williams, a family doctor at Premier Health Primary Care - Beavercreek.
In the latest flu report, outpatient visits for flu-like symptoms have gone down by 17.1% statewide, which accounts for about 5.1% of all outpatient visits. Emergency department visits for fevers and flu-like symptoms decreased by 22.3% in Ohio.
Nationally, 5.4% of visits to a health care provider were for respiratory illness, which is a downward trend, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC says flu deaths accounted for 1.5% of deaths in the U.S., which is up. In the most recent week, 11 influenza-associated deaths of children occurred, for a total of 27 pediatric deaths this season. None of those have been in Ohio.
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