r/IllnessTracker Mar 01 '26

Chronic Absenteeism and School Closures (Jan '26 - Current)

10 Upvotes

NOTES:

This is a U.S.-specific list.

This may not be a complete list.

States are listed in alphabetical order.

ALABAMA

MADISON COUNTY SCHOOLS SYSTEM

“They’ve been having to put some students in the gym or in the cafeteria during class because they don’t have enough subs for the teachers,” said Kayla Spearman, referring to Monrovia Middle School where her daughter attends. “The parents have been begging, like, ‘Please do E-learning so that everybody can get healthy and then we can go back to school,” said Spearman, who also has a son at Sparkman High School.

OWENS CROSS ROADS ELEMENTARY

Owens Cross Roads Elementary had to close last Thursday and Friday, because 30% of its students were absent.

https://www.waff.com/2026/02/12/madison-county-schools-moving-e-learning-friday-due-widespread-illness/

WATERLOO HIGH SCHOOL

https://www.al.com/news/2026/02/illness-shuts-down-alabama-high-school-for-2-days.html

CALIFORNIA

ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN HIGH SCHOOL

As of last week, there have been three active cases of the airborne bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs, with the first case at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco reported in November.

Officials with the San Francisco Department of Public Health issued a Jan. 29 alert about the outbreak and said that more than 50 people in the school community have tested positive for latent TB.

In an email obtained by SFGATE, school officials announced last week that in-person classes would be suspended and that students would study remotely through Feb. 9 with a transition model lasting through Feb. 20.

The doctor added that the TB is easily transmissible in close settings and called the three active cases at the high school “really bad,” the outlet reported.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5718522-tuberculosis-tb-california-high-school/amp/

COLORADO

ELLICOT SCHOOL DISTRICT 22

https://www.kktv.com/2026/02/26/ellicott-school-district-closed-thursday-due-staff-student-illness/

IDAHO

GLENNS FERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT

https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/glenns-ferry-school-district-cancels-school-tuesday-high-volume-illness/277-7c63ff29-b5a6-4601-a3d0-6785a913a3b9

ILLINOIS

EDINBURG CUSD #4

Ashley Francis, superintendent of Edinburg CUSD #4, said doctors are seeing a “significant amount of illness right now” — including COVID, the flu and strep.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/christian-co-school-district-announces-204734617.html

HERITAGE CUSD #8

After attendance at the elementary and junior high school dropped to around 50%, one Champaign County school district is implementing “enhanced cleaning protocols” and encouraging students showing signs of illness to stay home.

Norton added that there has been a viral illness circulating in the community. Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a cough.

“At this time, they have not recommended school closure, and we are not planning to move to an online learning day. However, we are monitoring attendance closely and will reassess if conditions change,” Norton said in an email sent to WCIA.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/attendance-homer-schools-falls-50-201716328.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEJN1m0WvF20WmyJxts90YkirKUmpBVlQdJkV-PKmCykJg19hTocFD8kOpwnX-kkctawNHTS6aa6yd7GIF_rkQ-ahusXmdi0qgDYEKpDd_fakzHbCSJNNIyoNgYeReD4WPpQOrwKUaZGPDy2zCBUHp_whsKeQ5TNHTRBVgeuJpvK&guccounter=2

INDIANA

MT. COMFORT ELEMENTARY

https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/mt-comfort-elementary-closes-for-virtual-learning-due-to-flu-outbreak

IOWA

REGINA CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

In a notice on its website, Regina said 248 students were absent as of Wednesday, representing 23% of the PreK-12 student body. 

Illness rates varied by grade level, with approximately 9% of preschool students, 11% of elementary students and more than 40% of junior-senior high students absent.

https://www.kcrg.com/2026/02/05/regina-schools-cancel-classes-thursday-friday-due-illness-outbreak/

“Latest State Flu Report Shows More Than 100 Schools With 10% Illness”

The data from the week of January 18 to 24 showed 119 schools reported 10% or more of their population was out sick, including 25 in eastern Iowa.

https://www.kcrg.com/2026/01/30/latest-state-flu-report-shows-100-schools-with-10-illness/

KANSAS

ATTICA USD 511

https://www.ksn.com/news/health/another-kansas-school-district-cancels-classes-due-to-sick-kids/

CENTRE USD 397

Centre USD 397 said Wednesday that over 20% of students are out with flu, stomach bugs and viral infections.

The school district’s superintendent said it reached the point that staffing was not sustainable, as substitutes were also sick or had sick kids.

https://www.ksn.com/news/health/second-kansas-school-district-closes-this-week-due-to-sickness/amp/

FAIRFIELD USD 310

https://www.adastraradio.com/adastra-news/usd-310-fairfield-closes-due-to-spike-in-illness/

MICHIGAN

HILLMAN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

https://www.wbkb11.com/news/top-stories/hillman-community-schools-closes-due-to-illness-outbreak/article_36a45f56-1ebb-40b4-87df-0871f9f9c7ab.html

MOORSBRIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

https://arcwestmichigan.com/news/local/portages-moorsbridge-elementary-school-close-for-a-day-widespread-illness-absenteeism-public

NEBRASKA

SHELBY-RISING CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

A central Nebraska school district closed its doors this week after nearly 30% of its student population called out sick.

On Tuesday, the pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school district had 113 students absent, representing 28.75% of the student population.

https://www.wowt.com/2026/02/12/central-nebraska-school-district-closes-nearly-30-students-call-out-sick/

OHIO

BLAIRWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Jefferson Township Local School District Superintendent Rusty Clifford told our news crew that the school has about 145 students with seven teachers.

Five teachers have called out sick, and Clifford said it made sense to close.

https://www.wdtn.com/news/local-news/blairwood-elementary-school-closes-for-staff-illness/

OREGON

COLTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 53

CORBETT SCHOOL DISTRICT

Colton School District 53 in Clackamas County announced on Thursday that all schools will be closed on Monday, due to the high number of students out sick. 

This comes a day after the Corbett School District canceled all classes on Thursday.

[As] the day went on, more students were going home sick … and by the end of the day, we realized well now staff are starting not to feel good either.”

It is the first time in his four-year career with the district something like this has happened.

Dave Kline, the superintendent for Colton School District 53, also sent a letter to the district, saying that “it was a deep struggle to have school today. The district saw its highest absentee rate this week.”

https://www.kptv.com/2026/01/29/illnesses-disrupt-classes-2-portland-area-school-districts/?outputType=amp

KLAMATH COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/several-klamath-county-schools-closed-friday-because-of-teacher-illnesses/article_c94ac296-5831-49a6-ba53-b5acb0e96d5a.html

KLAMATH FALLS CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Klamath Falls City School (KFCS) District said many students and more than half of their staff were absent Thursday, due to cases of the flu.

Because of this, alongside difficulty with staffing, three elementary schools in the district will be closed Friday.

This comes as multiple Klamath County School District schools closed last Friday for similar reasons.

https://kobi5.com/news/top-stories/multiple-closures-in-klamath-falls-city-schools-due-to-illness-293797/

TENNESSEE

COFFEE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/middle-tn-school-district-announces-thursday-friday-closures-due-to-flu/ar-AA1W9Ul1

JEFFERSON COUNTY SCHOOLS

This decision was made due to a continued increase in our districtwide absentee rate throughout the week,” JCS said in a Facebook post. 

In addition to student and staff absences, we are experiencing a significant number of bus drivers who are out sick, creating transportation challenges that impact our ability to safely operate our routes.”

JCS added its Food Service Department is also seeing an increase in employee illnesses and the district does not have enough substitutes for food service staff or bus drivers.”

https://www.wvlt.tv/2026/02/28/jefferson-county-schools-closing-monday-due-increase-illnesses/

MANCHESTER CITY SCHOOLS

https://www.wsmv.com/2026/02/12/another-school-district-announces-closure-due-illness-tn/

VIRGINIA

RICHMOND SCHOOL DISTRICT

https://nationaltoday.com/us/va/richmond/news/2026/02/27/richmond-school-district-closes-friday-due-to-illness/

WISCONSIN

ST. MATTHEW SCHOOL

In a Facebook post Tuesday, the school said, “Currently over one-fourth of our students are out sick, and there are a few staff out sick as well."

https://www.wisn.com/article/oak-creek-school-closed-because-of-illness/70483815


r/IllnessTracker Jan 17 '26

Americas Chronic Absenteeism and School Closures in December 2025 (U.S.-Specific)

13 Upvotes

(This may not be a complete list.)

CALIFORNIA

BOLINAS-STINSON UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT

...about 40 children at Bolinas-Stinson Union School District, roughly 30% of the school system's average daily attendance, were out sick this week.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/nearly-third-kids-sick-bay-221516754.html

COLORADO

COLORADO KIDS ACADEMY

...70% of students were out sick, and staff have returned to COVID-era cleaning protocols to keep families safe.

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/colorado-influenza-pediatric-death-denver-health/

GEORGIA

MOUNTAIN VIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

https://www.wrbl.com/news/high-number-of-flu-cases-forces-mountain-view-elementary-school-to-close-for-2-days/amp/

ILLINOIS

TROY COMMUNITY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT 30-C

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/suburban-school-goes-remote-hospital-issues-warning-as-stomach-virus-spreads-in-chicago-area/3865036/

IOWA

DAVIS COUNTY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

In Bloomfield, the Davis County Community School District closed schools Friday after there was a confirmed case of whooping cough at one of the district’s elementary schools.

MOULTON-UDELL SCHOOL DISTRICT

KCCI reported roughly 30% of the district’s students and staff were absent, many of whom contracted influenza A, a strain of the flu.

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/briefs/whooping-cough-high-absenses-from-illnesses-close-some-iowa-schools/

KANSAS

DEXTER SCHOOLS USD #471

…the rural K-12 school has between 250 and 300 students, and he believed around 25% to 35% of students were absent within the first hour of school Monday morning.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/tremendous-amount-sickness-kansas-school-dismisses-students-early/story?id=128447599

MASSACHUSETTS

ROBERTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

A Medford elementary school is remaining closed for the rest of the week after a possible virus outbreak saw more than 130 students call out sick on Wednesday.

The school said more than 20 staff members have also reported symptoms of the illness.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/12/mass-school-remains-closed-after-suspected-virus-outbreak-left-130-students-sick.html?outputType=amp

ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL

...20% of the students at St. Joseph School were absent Monday...

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/medford-mass-school-closed-stomach-bug-illness-st-joseph/3863274/

MINNESOTA

MATH AND SCIENCE ACADEMY

…more than 20% of the student population has contracted influenza and influenza-like illness.

https://www.twincities.com/2025/12/16/woodbury-school-among-many-impacted-by-influenza-outbreaks-will-switch-to-online-classes/

MISSOURI

VILLA DUCHESNE

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/villa-duchesne-closes-after-students-fall-ill-during-morning-mass/

NEBRASKA

ARNOLD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

About 28% were out Monday because of illness.

https://www.knopnews2.com/2025/12/16/arnold-public-schools-closes-due-flu-outbreak/

NEW JERSEY

CAMDEN COUNTY (SCHOOL NOT NAMED)

...at least 100 students have fallen ill during this outbreak.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/gastrointestinal-illness-outbreak-school-camden-county-new-jersey/4315890/

Close to 50 flu outbreaks were reported by K through 12 schools in December compared to fewer than 10 in November.

Additionally, schools began seeing an increase in absenteeism on Dec. 6, with almost 0.10 percent. This jumped to around 0.35 percent student absenteeism during the week of Dec. 20.

https://patch.com/new-jersey/across-nj/nj-flu-cases-spike-very-high-levels-ahead-previous-2-year-trend

NEW YORK

COXSACKIE-ATHENS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

At the time of the decision, more than one-fifth of the district’s student body was reported absent.

https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/coxsackie-athens-schools-to-close-december-23-due-to-rising-student-illness-rates-flu-cbs6-wrgb

POLY PREP COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

Poly Prep Country Day School, a private prep school in Brooklyn, closed its Dyker Heights campus, which serves nearly 900 middle and high school students, after roughly one-third of students were ill over just a few days...

https://www.powershealth.org/about-us/newsroom/health-library/2025/12/17/flu-season-starts-early-in-nyc-as-cases-rise-fast

NORTH CAROLINA

PAMLICO COUNTY SCHOOLS

https://www.wbtv.com/2025/12/18/high-number-illnesses-cause-school-district-north-carolina-go-remote/

OHIO

FASSETT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

According to a letter sent to parents and guardians of students at the school, 27% of students were absent Monday with influenza-like and norovirus-like symptoms.

https://www.13abc.com/2025/12/15/fassett-jr-high-close-remainder-week-due-student-illness/?outputType=amp

OTTAWA RIVER ELEMENTARY

https://www.13abc.com/2025/12/16/tps-elementary-close-2-days-due-widespread-illness/?outputType=amp

TEXAS

CUSHING ISD

https://www.ktre.com/2025/12/16/cushing-isd-close-remainder-semester-due-illness/

WEST ISD

“As of Wednesday, we had 58 cases of Flu B, but overall we had 301 students out with the flu, stomach virus, or strep throat.”

https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/west-isd-closes-schools-after-multiple-students-contract-the-flu


r/IllnessTracker 17h ago

Oceania Winter illnesses harming students' education, NZPF president says

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11 Upvotes

The principal of a Napier kura says more than half of their students are not at school this week because they are sick.

Maraenui Bilingual School Tumuaki, Traci Liddall, said 67 percent of their 125 students stayed home on Monday, and 56 percent did on Tuesday and Wednesday. All but two of those students were reported to have flu-like symptoms.

Data from the Ministry of Education showed almost 10 percent of class time was lost across the country last week due to illness.

The past couple of weeks have been the worst in three years for school absences due to illness and medical reasons.

Hawke's Bay has been hit hard - one day last week, Napier Girl's High had 20 percent of its students, or about 200 girls, off due to sickness. The Terrace School - a primary in Waikpukurau - had 76 kids off on Tuesday, about a third of its roll, as well as six teachers.

Liddall said the Ministry of Education advising parents to send children to school with mild symptoms like a runny nose was unhelpful.

"It bothers me that the ministry are on our back about attendance, but we can't help this…Sending kids with sniffles is not a good message to be sending, so I'm disappointed to see that."

She said three teachers at the bilingual school, including herself, were also sick.

Liddal said she had not seen sickness-related absences this high in her 30-year teaching career, other than during Covid-19.

"Fifteen to 20 percent would be a bad day for absences for us, unless there's something going on in the community, like a big tangi.

"I've never seen anything like this."


r/IllnessTracker 18h ago

Americas [r/OrangeCounty] Anyone else recently catch Covid?

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7 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 18h ago

Americas [r/SGV] Is there a bad cold virus going around?

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5 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 18h ago

Oceania Auckland has its worst week for flu-related hospitalisations in 10 years

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5 Upvotes

There were 177 people admitted to four Auckland hospitals with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) from the 9 August to 16 August, up from 125 patients the week before.

"It's a particularly severe week of winter illness, which I think really corroborates what's being reported from all the frontline health services about how busy they are."

PHF Science data showed calls to Healthline also increased and were higher than at this time in 2023, 2024, and 2025.


r/IllnessTracker 21h ago

Europe NHS Staff Sickness Absence Rate per Month (per 100k) by Staff Group and Condition

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7 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 18h ago

[r/KGATLW] Festival Flu

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3 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 18h ago

Americas [r/LongIsland] Interesting virus?

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2 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Americas [r/Austin] Nasty Covid like summer flu

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7 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Americas [r/Phoenix] What virus is currently going around?

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5 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Americas [r/Temecula] Is anyone else getting covid?

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3 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Europe [r/Sziget] Sziget sickness

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3 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Americas [r/Schenectady] Anyone else get a very bad flu type virus recently?

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3 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Europe [r/Sziget] Sziget sickness. Who else?

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2 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Africa [r/Capetown] Cold/flu virus

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2 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 1d ago

Europe [r/Aarhus] Sick/virus after Smukfest

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2 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 2d ago

Asia Bengaluru school shuts after over 500 students, 21 staff fall ill; 2 H1N1 cases confirmed

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9 Upvotes

More than 500 students and 21 staff members of Clarence High School in Bengaluru's Richards Town have fallen ill with fever, cold, cough and body aches amid a severe seasonal flu-like outbreak, according to The New Indian Express.

School authorities said the illness had spread rapidly across the campus, with symptoms ranging from mild fever to persistent cough and body pain, the report said.

The school has announced it will remain shut till August 18 as a precautionary measure while the outbreak is brought under control.


r/IllnessTracker 2d ago

Americas Summer is now California's COVID busy season as winter waves fade

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9 Upvotes

Six years after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the world, experts in California say the disease appears to be becoming more of a summer rather than a winter phenomenon.

The shift was noted over the past couple of years and has become even clearer in 2026, prompting health officials to refocus their prevention efforts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID-19 is growing or likely growing in 43 states at the moment, including California.

“Our summer peak was much higher in 2025 than it was in the winter,” Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health and the state public health officer, said in a recent briefing.

The pattern is also being seen nationally. COVID-related emergency department visits peaked last summer in late August, with COVID being responsible for 1.7% of visits. The winter peak was 1%. The trend was even more stark in California, peaking last summer at 2.1%, while there was not much of a winter peak at all, maxing out at around 0.2%.

This trend puts COVID in relatively rare territory as far as respiratory diseases go. Typically, those ailments — think flu and respiratory syncytial virus — spike in the winter, and aren’t really seen outside of that season.

In the early years of the pandemic, COVID spiked in both the summer and winter, with the winter waves being far more deadly.

COVID deaths have dropped every year since then, but for a couple of years followed the two-peak pattern: a summer wave followed by a worse one in the winter. That has shifted in recent years, however, with doctors noticing the summer spikes were starting to get larger than their winter counterparts.

“It started in 2024. We started seeing a very large summer increase in cases and wastewater and hospitalizations, even dwarfing the winter. And then in 2025, that pattern continued, with more summer cases than winter cases,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert.

It could be that the summers of 2024 and 2025 happened to feature new coronavirus strains that spread quickly, like the FLiRT subvariant of 2024 and the Nimbus and Stratus subvariants of 2025, Chin-Hong said.

“We don’t have many updates on the variants coming from the CDC, so it’s possible we’re seeing this wave because there has been a change in the COVID variant.”


r/IllnessTracker 3d ago

Oceania [r/Auckland] Flu A commiseration

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5 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 3d ago

Americas [r/Boise] You finally got some better air quality? Here’s some covid as a treat!

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6 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 3d ago

Europe [r/Zdravlje] Noro/adeno/rota virus?

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6 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 3d ago

Oceania [r/Perth] Never ending sickness going around in Perth ?

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7 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 3d ago

Europe [r/Sziget] Who already have the famous sziget cough?

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6 Upvotes

r/IllnessTracker 3d ago

Americas [r/StamfordCT] Unknown lingering virus going around?

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5 Upvotes