Less than a fortnight into the new school year, one U.S. school district has been forced to send its students home due to simultaneous outbreaks of COVID-19, strep throat, and the flu. On Monday, 157 students in Kentucky’s Lee County School District were out sick. “That’s a lot for a small district of 897 students,” Lee County Superintendent Earl Ray Shuler said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. More than a dozen of the district’s teachers also called in sick on Monday. The district announced it would cancel classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, and shift to remote learning on Thursday and Friday. Extracurricular activities were also canceled through the remainder of the week, Shuler said. “We’re sanitizing our buses and our buildings and giving our staff and our students time to heal,” he added, NBC News reported. Scott Lockard, the public health director for the Kentucky River District, told Scripps News Lexington that officials were “seeing an increase in COVID-19 throughout the seven counties.” Ahead of the official start of flu season in the U.S., health officials across the country are cautioning the public to protect themselves by getting their updated flu shots and COVID-19 boosters when available, to wash their hands, and stay home if they are feeling unwell.
