Flu outbreak closes Austin-area private school

"Just like dominoes, one gets it and it just continues through," says David Mueller, executive director, Concordia High School. 

A flu outbreak has taken over Concordia High School in Round Rock. Executive director David Mueller sent an email out to families on Monday. 

"I'm quickly approaching 40 years in education. I've never had anything like this, where we've had to shut down because we've had absences reaching this amount," says Mueller.

The virus hit the small private school last week. On Friday 18 students were out sick and by Monday, that number had jumped to 35. That is in addition to two teachers and three staff members.

Nearly 30 percent of the school's population is reporting having the flu or flu-like symptoms. Students didn't expect it to spread this fast. 

"I like saw, and talked to, three or four different people who had left just throughout the day in general. I was kind of surprised because I didn't even know what the real number was," says Jacob Sutton, junior, Concordia High School. 

The school even had to cancel their winter formal, for now.

"It's a little disappointing but I believe it was necessary," says Sutton. 

In response, they are closing for the rest of the week and doing all they can to disinfect all eight buildings on campus, including buying special products.

"Antibacterial spray device that you set off in a classroom at night. Then, it's obviously an aerosol, and it's supposed to kill germs in the air and then on contact as well," says Mueller. 

They will do three rounds over the next few weeks. They will also be adding more hand sanitizer stations throughout campus. Their hope is to prevent the flu from spreading even more.

"After looking at the CDC site today, it says we're not in the peak of flu season yet which is kind of frightening of knowing me might, there's always the possibility, we could go through this again. Although, so many of our kids are getting the flu, hopefully it's one and done," says Mueller. 

The school is expected to reopen on Monday, Feb. 5.