CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Christian School was closed Friday due to an extreme amount of illness.
The school said illnesses were seen across all three school divisions, and after consulting with health experts, administrators made the decision to cancel classes and close their campus.
"We decided to be proactive when it became clear that numerous faculty members and students were experiencing illness of various types from the flu to the stomach bug," Head of School Barry Giller told NBC Charlotte in an email. "We wanted to provide our school community an opportunity to stay home and get healthy while we perform a deep cleaning of the campus.”
Parents were notified of the school closing via a letter that was sent home Thursday. In it, school administrators apologized for the inconvenience but said they felt this was the best course of action to allow sick students and teachers time to recover, healthy students to remain well and to prevent additional illness from being spread.
The school said their janitorial service will be performing another deep clean of the entire school over the weekend, disinfecting all surfaces including classroom spaces, bathrooms, and offices.
News of the closure comes on the heels of new numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control, which show 11 people have died this week in North Carolina due to flu-related illnesses. The total number of flu-related deaths in the Tarheel state is now at 119. In South Carolina, officials say 43 people have died.
“The predominant strain we’ve seen in our pediatric practice has been flu A up to this point, but we’ve started to see cases of influenza B popping up,” said Dr. Ronda Patt, a pediatrician with Atrium Health.
Dr. Patt said it’s not uncommon to see flu cases and other illnesses last through May.
“The other thing we’re seeing right now is complications from the flu. So people who had the flu last week or the week before whose immune systems are down because of that, who are coming in with sinus infections, pneumonia,” she said.
Administrators at Charlotte Christian said school will resume Monday, but they’re asking any student experiencing vomiting, fever, or other flu-like illnesses to stay home until they’re symptom-free for at least 48 hours.