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Sickness closing several East Tennessee schools

School officials are shutting down because so many students and teachers are out sick.

Illness is closing multiple East Tennessee school systems and a private school in Knoxville.

Christian Academy of Knoxville was closed Tuesday, Feb. 5 and will remain closed through Friday, Feb. 8, due to excessive absences for illness, according to the school's Facebook page.

RELATED: Get the latest school closings and delays

The school will be cleaned and disinfected while the students are out, and they are asking parents to wash backpacks, jackets, etc. 

Due to excessive absences for illness, Christian Academy of Knoxville will be CLOSED on Tuesday, February 5 and Wednesday, February 6. During this time, please take the time to wash backpacks,...

On Tuesday, Union, and Scott County Schools and the Oneida Special School District in Scott County announced they would be closed for the rest of the week, Feb. 6-8, also because of illness.

Knox, Anderson and Monroe County Schools announced on Wednesday they would be closed Thursday and Friday as well, also due to illness. 

Knox County Schools closed due to a lack of teachers.

That school system received 688 requests for substitutes on Wednesday, but could only meet 70 percent of them, leaving them more than 200 teachers short. 

Officials at Scott County schools told 10News that 13 percent of students and 14 percent of teachers were out sick Tuesday morning, with more going home during the day.

Custodians will be cleaning and disinfecting the buildings while school is out.

The school official said they were seeing a lot of flu.

We checked with Knox County Schools because several parents reached out to us with concerns about sick students.

Spokesperson Carly Harrington told 10News that attendance on Monday was 91.80 percent and 91.00 percent on Tuesday. She said the majority of Knox County Schools had attendance rates about 90 percent.

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