Local schools head back after flu closures & H1N1 Update

KSDK -- Classes are getting back underway Monday in the Phelps County R-3 School District.

Last week classes were cancelled in that district because of a flu outbreak.

During the time off school officials had the schools in the district disinfected.

Elsewhere in the St. Louis area, the Jefferson County R-7 School District also cancelled classes last week because of the flu.

Classes will resume there Tuesday.

Meanwhile a top federal health official is calling the latest numbers on the spread of H1N1 flu, "very sobering."

Last week alone, more than a thousand people were hospitalized and 50 died from swine flu nationwide, including 11 children.

Federal officials now say swine flu appears to be hitting harder and faster than expected, and they warn the H1N1 vaccine will be in short supply in the coming weeks because of manufacturing delays.