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St. Charles East reopens after illness outbreak

St. Charles East High will reopen its doors Thursday morning, welcoming back about 800 students who called in sick Monday. The reopening concludes the school's second major illness outbreak in seven years.

The school notified district families it would close Tuesday and Wednesday to deep-clean the school and follow a health protocol that recommends 48 hours without symptoms before returning to normal activity. Though not confirmed, the district followed procedures consistent with a norovirus or stomach flu outbreak.

More than 900 students at the school called in sick October 2009 with flu-like symptoms after homecoming activities. The fall of 2009 was remarkable for the emergence of the H1N1 swine flu virus across the country. In 2009, district officials closed the school for four days, but the timing was a bit more convenient for academic purposes.

In the 2017 outbreak, which students are referring to as #quarantine17, the timing of the closure comes right before final exams. Finals will begin Tuesday and run through Thursday as planned in the district's school calendar. That gives students just two days of class before finals begin. Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

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