In Douglas County, a combination of pertussis, norovirus and the flu led South Umpqua High School in Myrtle Creek to close for three days this week.
57% of the school’s students have been out sick.
"They'll be returning after the long weekend, which hopefully will be enough time for everyone to get well and stop spreading this icky bug around and also give us an opportunity to really do a thorough deep cleaning of the building," Superintendent Erika Bare said. "This is a really unique circumstance. I've never been in the position to have to close school because of the number of students out."
Dr. Paul Cieslak, medical director for Communicable Diseases and Immunizations at the Oregon Health Authority, said this flu season is worse than normal.
"We've had years when we have only maybe 400 people hospitalized in the Portland area, and we're over 1,200 now, and no sign of slowing down," he said.
He said that’s partially because of low vaccination rates. Many people still haven’t gotten their flu, pertussis or COVID vaccine.
"We haven't had pertussis cases in this county for a very long time," said Vanessa Becker, public information officer for Douglas County Public Health. "That's a little bit unusual."
It’s also just a particularly bad strain of flu this year, Cieslak said. According to the OHA, two children have died in Oregon because of the flu this season.
"We saw our greatest number of [pertussis] cases since 1950 during 2024. I suspect that's because we're coming off some COVID years where we had almost no pertussis because of all the social distancing and masking and whatnot, and now it's kind of come back with a vengeance," Cieslak said.
To stay healthy, he recommends people get vaccinated, wash their hands and stay home if they’re sick.
"Getting vaccinated is number one, two and three. I mean, that is far and away the most reliable method of keeping yourself healthy," he said. "There's so much disease out there right now."
On the bright side, there are fewer cases of COVID and RSV than there have been in previous years.
