ST. LOUIS — As countries around the world try to understand and contain the virus, St. Louis-area schools are taking measures to be as a prepared as possible if the coronavirus comes here.
Plans are still in the very early stages.
Superintendents just started coming together Wednesday morning trying to come up with a plan for 53 school districts to follow just in case the virus hits home.
"It is a little different from the flu. There doesn't seem to be a vaccine at this point and the rates of infections seem to be a little different," said Education Plus CEO Dr. Paul Ziegler.
It's a big job covering more than 50 school districts across several Missouri counties.
“And about 300,000 students that are part of the cooperative. But one of the great things of the nature of this is we've been here for more than 90 years, so schools are really used to using Education Plus as part of that hub," explained Ziegler.
Education Plus is partnering with state and county health departments getting guidance on what to do if the coronavirus creeps into the Show-Me State.
“They can all work together to share, what are they doing, is there something that all of our districts should know, to make sure they're really prepared," said Ziegler.
While he's working on that, schools in the area are working a different issue.
There have been so many students coming in with cases of the flu, Hancock Place School District ran out of swabs.
"If your kid is sick, coughing, has a sore throat or is running a fever, they need to stay home from school and be seen and evaluated," said Clinic Manager Claire Stites.
Stites said that goes for any type of virus.
Leaving a big job that's just getting started for Dr. Ziegler.
“I think what may be different about this is it seems like the urgency has accelerated over the last couple days," added Ziegler.