With Corona talk spreading like a virus, school district on guard

Tracy schools dealing with variety of illnesses

By Per Peterson

It might not rate with the much-talked about coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean it’s not serious.

The latest round of flu has hit Tracy Area Public Schools and forced the cancellation of five Ramp Up conferences were scheduled for March 2.

On Tuesday, Shannon Wolske, the school district’s nurse, sent an email to school administration with a YouTube video attached regarding coronavirus. Wolske said it’s important to educate the public as to what the illness entails, even though it hasn’t hit the area.

“Many people are scared and hearing conflicting information through the media and rumors within in the community,” Wolske said. “I feel it is best to become educated from a reliable source and take reasonable precautions to help prevent the spread of any virus. The Osmosis YouTube video provides illustrations, language, and statistics that can be understood by the general public, rather then tailored to medical professionals.”

There’s no evidence that the illnesses in Tracy are linked to the coronavirus; nonetheless, the school district has been hit by a wave of flu.

Citing information given to him by Wolske, Tracy Area High School Supt. Chad Anderson said the student illness rate isn’t unusually high — overall, the district is at 8% for student absences due to illness. Anderson said on Monday, 37 high school students (10%) and 23 elementary school kids (8%) missed school due to illness, and another 12 were absent Tuesday.

Sickness has also affected high school staff, and there is an expectation that student absences will rise over the next two weeks because of the spread of Influenza “A” and the stomach flu.

See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.