Flu activity widespread in Mass.

Flu activity is widespread in Massachusetts for the first time this fall, public health officials said today, leading a Central Massachusetts high school to close its doors until Wednesday and almost certainly reflecting cases caused by the swine flu virus, whose return has been expected since it first emerged in the spring.

This week's bump in flu-like illnesses monitored by the state Department of Public Health makes the state one of 46 in the country to with widespread flu activity, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We had always been predicting this," Dr. Lauren Smith, the state's medical director, said today. "We knew the H1N1 virus was going to be increasing. We didn't know when, but now we do. It's here."

Grafton High School closed early today after more than a third of its students and more than a quarter of its staff stayed home sick. It is the only school in the state to close, according to public health and education departments, but absenteeism has been elevated some communities across the state. At the beginning of the school year, state officials urged schools to close only as a last resort during flu season and instead focus on keeping sick students isolated at home. Grafton school and public health officials were in close contact with the state health department before today's action, Smith said.

Over the past few days there was an uptick statewide in the proportion of people going to their doctors with flu symptoms, Smith said. But the levels are half as high as during the H1N1 outbreak in the spring and a third as high as seasonal flu's peak last winter.

"This is very early for seasonal flu," Smith said. "We can safely assume that flu activity this early in October is probably due to H1N1."

Some hospitals in the state are limiting who can visit their patients, the Associated Press reported today. Children 13 or younger will not be allowed to visit patients at the UMass Memorial Medical Center hospital's three Worcester campuses. The policy applies to all young children healthy or not, but anyone showing possible flu symptoms will be prevented from visiting patients.

Southcoast Hospitals Group is barring anyone under the age of 18 from visiting patients in the pediatric and maternity wards at its hospitals in New Bedford, Fall River and Wareham.