TRENTON, Ohio — Illnesses are shutting down schools across the state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now reporting "very high" flu activity in Ohio, and many of those flu outbreaks are spreading into districts.

What You Need To Know

  • From Cleveland to Cincinnati, schools have been closing because of illnesses and flu outbreaks 

  • Edgewood City Schools, north of Cincinnati, is the most recent district to close 

  • Health officials are asking parents to keep their kids home for at least 24 hours if they notice flu symptoms 

Mother of three Jessica Gentry said her son is with her instead of at school because her whole family has been sick. 

“Vomiting, headaches, diarrhea, you name it," said Gentry, “They’re bad, they've been out since Monday. If they're sick, then rather keep it at home than in the schools," she said. 

The schools are exactly where viruses are spreading.

Edgewood City Schools, north of Cincinnati in Trenton, is one of the latest. The district closed for three days, citing in its notice to parents there were too many absences and not enough staff.

“I was kind of shocked, but like at the same time, I wasn't because a lot of people have been sick," said Edgewood High School senior Megan Otis. 

Otis said she hasn’t been sick but she’s seen some kind of sickness spreading.

“I did notice that a few of our lunch ladies also were getting sick, so it would have just not been okay for the students," said Otis. 

School nurses have been reporting those cases to the Butler County Health Department. Health commissioner Erik Balster said it’s most likely the flu.

“Flu is the predominant strain of of illness that we're seeing, whether it be in school-age kids or adults," said Balster. 

He said while COVID numbers remain steady, they’ve seen higher hospitalizations from the flu across the county.

“One-hundred and eight hospitalizations related to flu in Butler County, 62 of those were in the month of January alone," said Balster. 

Butler County is not alone. Illnesses are shutting down schools across the state from the Cleveland area down to Cincinnati.

School leaders are asking parents to keep kids home at least 24 hours if you see flu symptoms and health officials are reminding families of what we did during the pandemic.

“I can't plug hand washing and hand hygiene enough," said Balster. 

Health officials say they expect flu numbers to die down by this spring.