Another Maine School Forced to Close Due to Widespread Illness

Is this the season of sickness?

Only just a few days ago, two schools in MSAD 75 closed because of mostly respiratory issues, according to WMTW.

And now a school in Brunswick, Maine, is closing its doors Friday, December 9.

A press release sent from Shawn Lambert, the assistant superintendent of the Brunswick School Department, noted that Kate Furbish Elementary School has an "exceptionally high number of staff members absent due to illness."

Lambert indicated that the school can't function normally because of the widespread illness to its staff and therefore would mean the closure of the school on Friday.

This announcement comes on the heels of a press release sent by the assistant superintendent just two days prior about "an outbreak of influenza" at Kate Furbish due to the number of students and staff being sick.

At the time, the school was able to function "normally," but it only took a few days to flip the script on the situation.

As of Thursday, there is no indication that this closure will last more than Friday, but time will tell.

Schools in RSU 20 closed for three days because of illness, News Center Maine reported on December 6. The news station highlighted that flu, COVID-19, and RSV is circulating in the community.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a CNBC article that the CDC "would encourage all of those preventive measures — hand washing, staying home when you’re sick, masking, increased ventilation — during respiratory virus season, but especially in areas of high Covid-19 community levels."

Will this trend of closing schools and increased illness become the new normal? Let's hope things change and get better so we can have a happy and healthy holiday season.