girl with the cold and flu in school

The flu season is hitting school kids and faculty especially hard this year. According to CNN reporting, absences have resulted in school closures of a day or more in at least a dozen different states.

For example, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora closed due to illness for the first time in its 30-year history. That suburban Chicago school closed for almost a week due to the flu, but the cleaning crew did not get that week off. They stayed on the job to wipe down all the hard surfaces in the dorms and academic buildings.

In Port St. Joe, Florida, the district decided to close school for one day after more than one-quarter of its 1,900 students and one-third of the 150 teachers called out sick. The announcement on the closing said buildings will be cleaned and sanitized.

In Oklahoma, Hugo area schools were also closed for a couple of days. The district's website said that the schools would be sanitized.

In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Public Schools website said while most schools were below the health department's 20 percent flu-related absentee level for closure, "as a precaution, all KPS schools will be cleaned and disinfected over the upcoming weekend," the article said.

In normal circumstances, regular cleaning of all surfaces with general cleaning agents is enough. Things change, however, when an outbreak of any illness occurs.

During and outbreak, schools should increase cleaning frequency and then additionally add sanitizing or disinfecting of high-touch point areas.

According to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 37 children have already died due to flu-related causes this season.

Read the full CNN article here.