A spike in students with flu-like symptoms has caused classes to be canceled for Thursday and Friday at Great Oak Middle School in Oxford.
On Wednesday, 70 students at the school were out sick. The middle school has 21 confirmed cases of the flu. So far none have been confirmed as swine flu, but the school will get a thorough cleaning just to be safe.
The superintendent of schools in Oxford says the other schools in the district have not had a dramatic rise in absentee rates.
The Connecticut Department of Health reports that as of Wednesday there were 637 cases of swine flu in the state. The average age of those sick is 18. More than 80 Connecticut communities are reporting swine flu cases. Most than half are in Fairfield County.
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Nine of the patients have been hospitalized, and one person has died.
South Windsor public schools are reporting 2 confirmed cases of swine flu, but classes have not been canceled.
Milford has gone to a half-day schedule at Foran High school because so many kids are sick. As of Wednesday morning somewhere between 12 and 20 students have flu-like symptoms. The school system hopes that by not having students gather for lunch that may help stop the spread of the flu.
