‘Never seen anything like it’: Sickness rips through southern schools

A brutal wave of winter illness has affected 80% of students at one Otago school as principals battle the “worst” flu season they can remember. Health New Zealand (HNZ) said this week the health care system was inundated with cases related to winter illness — and the peak was expected to last several more weeks. Southern schools the Otago Daily Times spoke to on Thursday reported about 20% of students staying at home due to illness — at some schools absences due to illness were as high as 50%. East Taieri School principal Garth Powell said up to 60 pupils a day were off school sick this flu season. “Coming back this term, especially weeks two, three and four, we were having 40 to 60 children off a day. “Our school roll is around 324, so it’s quite a big chunk of the school away each day. “Talking to all the staff, it definitely has been the worst flu, medical, sickness season for quite a few years.” It was not just the pupils getting sick either as several relief teachers had been needed some days due to staff sickness, he said. It had required “a lot juggling and working to ensure that the children’s learning continues”. Waitaki Valley School, in Kurow, had been hit especially hard with up to half of the students missing on some days. “Influenza A seems to be the main culprit at the moment,” principal Di Murphy said. The school was reminding students about proper hygiene practices to limit the spread. Tokomairiro High School principal Victoria Wish said the school had been “hit extremely hard” with the recent illnesses. There appeared to be a mix of influenza A and B, Covid, RSV, gastro and a chest infection “among other things”. “The first week of August was definitely the worst week, with almost half the school absent at some point. “Over the past three weeks I would say that almost 80% of the students have been hit with some sort of winter illness. “I have never seen anything like it. “ A large percentage of staff had also been hit with illness and the school had sent messages to caregivers saying if necessary “we may need to roster home students”. The school cancelled two weekly assemblies to try and prevent the spread of illness and postponed a sports exchange with Blue Mountain College. “Overall, our attendance has been increasing over several terms but the last three weeks have been unprecedented. “I am pleased to say, however, that we seem to be pretty much at the end of it.” Fairfield School, in Dunedin, had avoided large numbers of pupils being away, but teaching staff had been significantly affected, principal Greg Lees said. Seven staff were away with illness on Thursday. “Trying to adequately staff has required some flexibility and some juggling — that’s for sure.” The sickness compounded an already difficult situation due to a shortage of available relief teachers, he said. At St Clair School, 21% of pupils were off sick on Monday, principal Jen Rodgers said on Thursday. “That has got a little bit better: 18% of our roll is away today, and most of them are away because of illness. “It is hitting pretty hard. “When kids have been away with this flu they’re away for at least a week; some of them are away for 10 days.” This had presented challenges in the classroom. “Some of our classes have nine, 10, 11 kids away, which does make it really challenging.’’ In Invercargill, Donovan Primary School principal Peter Hopwood said while there had been higher absences in the past, the school had recently had days with 35 to 40 pupils off sick, and “we’ve probably had five go home today”. “It hasn’t let up … We’re getting influenza A. Today, we’re getting vomiting bugs.” He said some pupils were off sick for three to four days and some staff had been off sick for a week. As a result, they were not always able to cover staff absences. Southland Boys’ High School principal Ray Laurenson said student absences were fairly normal for this time of year, but the school was “bleeding staff”, with 14 staff members absent on Thursday. He said many of his staff were away because they were home looking after their primary-school aged children. • HNZ chief executive Dr Dale Bramley said primary care, Healthline, ambulance services, emergency departments and hospitals were all experiencing “a significant surge” in demand due to winter illnesses. Dr Bramley encouraged the public to save emergency departments for emergencies. — additional reporting Tayler Mutton and Nick Brook nic.duff@alliedmedia.co.nz