OLNEY, Texas — Officials with the Olney Independent School District and Garner Independent School District are taking precautions to ensure students and staff remain healthy.
Olney ISD announced on Facebook it will cancel classes as the district is impacted by an outbreak of illnesses. Schools will be closed on Jan. 23 and 24 while maintenance staff sanitizes all its facilities.
"This should give students and staff some time to recover," Olney ISD said in the post. Olney ISD officials said classes were expected to resume on Thursday, Jan. 25, but later announced school was canceled for the rest of the week.
Garner ISD announced on Facebook it will cancel classes for the remainder of the week and will return on Monday, Jan. 29.
"Our hope is that this will allow everyone to get well, as well as an opportunity to sanitize the facilities," Garner ISD said in its post.
On Monday, the Texas Department of State Health Services launched a new interactive respiratory dashboard to show trends in illnesses like COVID-19, flu, and RSV.
Last week, Children's Health reported a 40% jump in the number of children it has treated for the flu at clinics, doctor's offices, and emergency rooms compared to the week before.
Olney is a rural community of about 3,000 people located about 100 miles west of Fort Worth. Garner is in a similar area, generally speaking, but a little closer to Fort Worth (45 miles west).