Do You Know Anyone Who Has NOT Been Sick Lately?

At l it’s not even halfway through the month and more students have been absent in February than in all of the  first three months of the school year.

One teacher nearly threw up in the hallway and went home sick last week, another teacher had 30 students out. For the whole month of January, 100 of the 1,660 middle-schoolers were out sick. As of Feb. 11, it already hit 150. Since the beginning of the month, between 8 and 10 percent of the school’s population has been out with the flu.

“Yeah, it’s worse than usual,  and it hasn’t been this bad in years,” said Rosie Orozco, at the attendance desk where half a dozen students were lined up to go home sick.

About 10 children a day are sick at and it’s fairly normal for this time of year at , but at every class has had seven or eight students absent for the past two weeks—that’s one half to one-third of each classroom.

“It’s bad, but it’s not as bad as when we had the Swine Flu a few years ago,” said school administrative assistant Rita Grigoryan.

In a report released over the weekend, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department reported, "Los Angeles County is continuing to experience significant increases in influenza activity resulting in many outbreaks, mostly in elementary schools."

Dr. David Dassey, Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Acute Communicable Disease Control Unit, told Studio City Patch that although the emergency room cases do not show epidemic proportions, it is a significantly high flu season, and some have had H1N1, commonly known as swine flu. So far, there have been 10 deaths reported countywide in the fifth week of the flu season, with two of those being children.

 “February is turning out to be the worst of the flu season,” Dassey said. “About 10 years ago it was in late December and January, but now it’s February that is the most significant flu season. And, it’s not too late to get a flu shot. This will most likely last through April.”

There are 20 strains of flu in the area right now—and very different kinds. As Dassey puts it, one kind will affect the upper end of the body with fever, coughing and sneezing, while the other kind will affect the lower end, with frequent trips to the bathroom.

“The best advice I can give is to keep washing your hands and do not touch your hands to your nose or eyes,” Dassey said. “And if you’re sick, stay home and don’t infect anyone else.”

Some people have reported being ill for as long as two weeks, and some have felt better for a few days and then get sick again.

Illnesses at Rio Vista near the Los Angeles River have included allergies more than usual, and Studio City Dr. Jacob Offenberger of the Allergy and Asthma Institute of the Valley said that allergy-related illnesses have increased by as much as 15 percent, and it is mostly due to the increased rains, causing more plant growth. Some environmental observers have noted that wildflowers are popping up earlier in the season as well.

And so, as Dr. Dassey said, it may seem that everyone around you is sick (poor had for a week), but the trick is to avoid being in public places for a while, and certainly keep washing your hands.

"There's also no excuse for not getting a flu shot, they are out there and available, and again, it's not too late," Dassey said.

and stores are offering free flu shots, but you have to check times with individual stores. Public health department clinics offer shots on a walk-in basis, check here for more info, and the North Hollywood site at 5300 Tujunga Avenue only offers them on Friday mornings.