Hamilton County Schools officials are reassuring parents that there is no need for school closures related to illnesses.
Though attendance rates have dropped in some areas of the county, districtwide absences were down to 7.6 percent - or 3,419 students - Thursday after absences peaked with about 3,695 students out Wednesday.
Flu and cold rates are higher this time of year, intensifying speculation on social media Thursday that schools would be closed Friday.
During the confusion, parents took to social media to share the significant absences at their children's schools.
Kayton Akehurst's daughter goes to Daisy Elementary in Soddy-Daisy. The girl was sent home from school Monday after becoming ill. Later, a doctor confirmed she had the flu.
Akehurst said she received a message from the school that there were high numbers of missing students because of the flu.
"It's the worse it's been, and I think they should be more caring and putting kids' health first instead of keeping open. The flu is a dangerous thing," Akehurst said.
She hoped schools would close for a long weekend in order for them to be cleaned in order to help healthy kids stay that way.
"I understand they can't control them getting the flu, but the fact they have it going around and not shutting down to clean it's not fair to keep kids in a place with the flu germs around," she said.
Hamilton County Schools spokesman Tim Hensley said in an email that "absences were up this week from 3 weeks ago, but it seemed to be pockets."
One of those pockets included Signal Mountain Middle/High, where attendance was around 88 percent Wednesday, down from the average 93-94 percent attendance rate, Hensley said.
Harrison Faulkner, a junior at the school, said only six of the usual 23 students attended one of his classes Thursday.
"I've definitely been noticing a slow decline in the number of students in my classes, but the last two days has been an unprecedented high," he said. "Three of my teachers are sick today, and my U.S. History teacher is out because his elementary school-aged daughter is out with the flu."
Faulkner was himself out for two days this week, but as an International Baccalaureate student, he felt pressure to return to school and not fall further behind.
Signal Mountain freshman Bryce Clark also said he had noticed a lot of absences.
"Every class has a noticeable amount of students out," Clark said. "I honesty think [Friday] should be closed down because of the noticeable amount of students out in every class and the fact it has been this way and only gotten worse throughout the week."
As of Wednesday, district data only showed 226 flu reports. On Thursday, that count had decreased to 153 cases.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department said the area has seen a 94 percent increase in flu-like activity from Jan. 13 through Feb. 2. Department data shows a slight decline, but "flu activity is still widespread in our community," said department spokesman Tom Bodkin in an email.
Influenza is not a reportable illness, so the health department relies on voluntary reports from providers in the area for general idea of flu activity, Bodkin said.
In the absence of a lab-confirmed diagnosis of the flu, flu-like illnesses typically included a fever greater than 100 degrees plus a cough and/or sore throat, he added.
He said the best protection against the flu virus remains vaccination.
"We still have free flu vaccine at all health department clinics, and the flu season typically runs through May, so there is plenty of time not only to get vaccinated but also to possibly catch the illness," he added.
Handwashing, avoiding sick people, staying home if you're sick and taking antiviral medication as prescribed by a health care provider can also prevent the spread of the flu.
District officials reassured parents Thursday that the district was keeping an eye on the situation.
"As we always do this time of year, the district is watching absence numbers closely for students and staff. Fortunately, at this point in the year, we have not been hit as hard by the flu bug," according to a news release from the district. "Hamilton County Schools has also taken extra precautions in recent weeks to perform extra deep cleaning and sanitizing of schools. The most recent cleaning was performed during the day schools were out because of the predicted snow for the area."
Maintenance personnel wiped down desks, surface areas and door handles and sanitized other equipment, according to the news release. They will also use Friday and the weekend to further clean areas where absence totals have been higher than in the rest of the district.
Contact staff writer Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.