Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

People are really worried about the flu in SC. What about our schools?

Out of 22 students in Scott Jaillette’s daughter’s kindergarten class, only 10 showed up to school one day this week.

“I know the school officials are doing what they can,” the Columbia father of three said. “The flu is very bad this season. But I can’t keep her out of school and protect her from everything. I mean, she’d never go to school.”

S.C. DHEC still urging people to get flu vaccines

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is still urging people to get a flu shot; 46 people have died in South Carolina as of Jan. 20, according to a press release.

The best protection against the flu is to get a flu shot, and since it takes about two weeks for the body to build up protection, the sooner you get the vaccine, the better, according to the release.

Teens raise awareness about opioid epidemic in the lowcountry

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C., (WSAV) — It’s tearing apart families and killing more than 100 people every single day. Experts say our nation is in an opioid crisis and it’s affecting people of all ages right here at home.

Local leaders and experts in the lowcountry met with members of the community to work toward a real, life-saving solution.

General Interest

There’s another bad virus going around that is not the flu

It looks like flu. It feels like flu. It even puts patients into the hospital like flu can.

There’s another virus out there that could be adding to the seasonal misery, but it’s not being identified.

The virus is called adenovirus, and it can cause very severe flu-like symptoms. It’s so risky that the U.S. military vaccinates recruits against two major strains.