Iowa schools report surge in illnesses

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IA schools report surge in illness in Iowa

The day's local, regional and national news, detailed events and late-breaking stories are presented by the ABC 6 News Team, along with the latest sports, weather updates including the extended forecast.

(ABC 6 News) — The Iowa Department of Heath and Human Services is seeing an increase in flu cases, including here in our area.

This comes as dozens of schools are also seeing 10% or more of students out for illness, including schools in Cerro Gordo and Mitchell Counties.

Last year at this time, Iowa was only seeing three schools with high rates of students out for illness.

Positive flu tests went from about 17% to 25% in the past week. The age group seeing the most cases of flu is 5-24 years of age.

Schools in Minnesota have also seen an increase in respiratory illnesses, according to the latest numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Related: MDH reports spike in respiratory illnesses at schools