About 500 students affected by flu outbreak at Concord school

CONCORD, Calif. (KTVU) - Clayton Valley Charter High School in Concord is dealing with a flu outbreak at their campus in Concord.

A spokesman for the school said approximately 500 students out of 2,200 students have called out sick over the past two days, which adds up to roughly 20 percent of the student body.

Students who spoke to KTVU on Wednesday said some classes were half empty and others said they believe the bug was caught a school dance over the weekend.

CVCHS Operations Director Alison Bacigalupo said she does not believe that is the case. She said they noticed the sick calls on Monday and had approximately 500 students absent on Tuesday and Wednesday with flu-like symptoms.

“It is a larger number than we’re used to,” she said.

Bacigalupo said they typically see about 100 students absent on a normal day. She said restrooms were cleaned and disinfectant wipes have been distributed.

“We will be going through tonight and also disinfecting desktops, computer keyboards, and things like that trying to help eliminate as much as we can,” she added.

She pointed out that CVCHS is not the only school dealing with the flu.

“This is a regional problem,” she added. “That is the information we’ve been given.”

KTVU checked with two schools closest to CVCHS which belong to the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. A spokeswoman for Mt. Diablo Unified said one school had 5 absences on Wednesday and the other had 10 absences, which is considered normal. She said their district is not seeing any large cases of flu-related absences.

Other school districts in the area, including, Pittsburg and San Ramon, reported normal attendance rates.

A letter was sent home to parents of CVCHS students notifying them of the flu illnesses over the past few days. School officials said if students are sick, they want them to stay home and get better.