A viral outbreak among staff members and students has caused several school closures across North Texas.
The independent school districts of Archer City, Benjamin, Chillicothe, Crowell, Graham, Olney, Garner, and Rio Vista announced class cancelations this week as common respiratory illnesses run amok. District officials said the move was precautionary, allowing those who are ill to recover and giving maintenance staff time to sanitize school facilities.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) recently rolled out a new dashboard to help residents of the Lone Star State stay informed on common illnesses. Respiratory illnesses can strike at any time of the year, but cases tend to peak in winter.
DSHS data shows that emergency room visits for influenza remained elevated as of January 25. However, those for COVID-19 have stabilized, and visits over RSV have decreased. This spike mirrors Children’s Hospital’s report of seeing a 40% jump in flu cases the week of January 14 compared to the week prior, according to Fox 4 KDFW.
As of January 26, hospital bed occupancy was stable across the state, yet viral outbreaks do have the potential to overwhelm medical centers, as was seen last November in the Dallas-Fort Worth area because of surging rates of pediatric RSV.
Once schools reach a certain threshold of absences, they tend to close.
“Any day that [has] 10% less students in attendance than the average daily attendance of the prior year, you really start looking at wavering that day for attendance because we’re paid based on attendance,” said Garner ISD Superintendent Rebecca Hallmark, according to Fox 4.
To avoid the learning loss associated with school closures, many districts have asked parents and guardians to refrain from sending their children to school if they are sick. As a general rule, children should be kept at home until they show no signs of fever for at least 24 hours.
Learning loss from the COVID-19 lockdowns severely impacted Texas students, with many still lagging behind in terms of academics. Some, however, are doing worse than others. Dallas ISD, for instance, underperformed across several metrics during the 2021-2022 school year, according to the district’s latest Texas Education Agency accountability report. Only 41% of students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams despite the hard work of the district’s dedicated teachers, and almost 20% of Dallas ISD’s graduating Class of 2022 did not earn a diploma in four years.