Students at the exclusive Forman School in Litchfield have come down with the flu and officials have canceled class. Because of a second wave, the school will remain closed until next Feb. 11.
The boarding school students started getting sick the week of Jan. 31. The school was supposed to open this week, but the school decided to remain closed for an additional five days.
"Symptoms are enough to take you out of class and put you out for one, two, three or four days," said Dr. Michael Teiger, a pulmonologist of Hartford.
Samples taken from students were sent to the Charlotte Hungerford Hospital. Doctors there determined the strain of flu that's sickened the students is highly contagious and resistant to this flu season's vaccines.
"Every year the Centers for Disease Control tried to second guess what the virus will be out this year. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong," said Dr. Teiger.
Last week, the school had several cases of influenza that was confirmed by a laboratory, so school administrators decided to close for four days. The school is seeing a second wave of cases involving the faculty and students who are now at home.
The state Department of Health and the Torrington Area Health District recommended that the school extend the closure.
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Students who were unable to travel due to illness or logistical difficulties were hosted on campus and should have left the campus by Wednesday evening. No students who demonstrated any flu-like symptoms were allowed to use public transportation. The health and dean’s offices coordinated all travel plans to minimize exposure.