Flu-like symptoms in 28% of N.S. school

The principal of Astral Drive Junior High School in Cole Harbour, N.S., says almost a third of his school was absent on Thursday with flu-like symptoms, prompting concerns of an outbreak.

Bill Forsyth said of 544 students, 157 students were absent — more than he'd ever seen in his 29 years of teaching.

"It exceeded the highest number we've ever had and continued to go up all week," he said Thursday.

Although provincial health officials said Wednesday that Nova Scotia had started to see increased H1N1 activity, Forsyth said there was no indication that was behind the wave of illness at his school.

"We haven't had any official cases of H1N1," he said. "We have a lot of flu-like, cold-like symptoms. Just the high number of kids, I would make the assumption that statistically, there would be a case in there, but I don't know for sure."

Grade 8 student Cody Young said he wasn't at school on Thursday, like many of his classmates.

"I'm not at school today because my principal said, 'Don't come to school if you're sick,'" he said. Young said of 31 people in his class, approximately 13 were absent on Wednesday.

Forsyth said though the school remained open, the situation was a "logistical nightmare" for teachers.

"We have a third of them out. That means a third of a class will be sitting in there, looking to get work that was missed," he said. "So it does present a logistical problem."

Eric Graves Memorial Junior High School, less than five kilometres from Astral Drive, had 35 of their 208 students call in sick on Thursday.