LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Schools around the state are feeling the effects of flu season early, with some districts returning to remote learning or closing entirely.

In the past few weeks, area doctors said they've started to see a spike in flu cases. Some cases have been severe enough to land kids in the emergency department at Norton Children's Hospital. 

Many children were sick with the respiratory virus known as RSV early in the month. And now, more children are showing up with flu symptoms. 

"It's severe enough that we're seeing a fair number of kids coming into the Emergency Department," said Dr. Scott Bickel, a pediatric pulmonologist at Norton Children's Hospital. "A couple weeks ago, we weren't really seeing any. And now, the emergency room is seeing about 30-35 cases of flu each day."

And Norton Children's isn't alone: The spike is being felt in school districts around the state earlier than usual.

"Usually, it's December/January where we see our flu spikes," Bickel said.

More than 25 Kentucky school districts have closed or held NTI days due to illness, impacting more than 100,000 students, including districts in Fayette, Frankfort, Scott and Clark counties. On Thursday, Washington County joined the list, switching to NTI days for the rest of the week due to widespread illness among staff and students.

"It's not completely unheard of to see an outbreak start in one area and kind of spread sequentially," Bickel said. "The southern United States has been hit pretty hard looking at the CDC flu maps, and that seems to be progressing northward. Australia and places in the southern hemisphere had a pretty rough flu season over what would be our summer, so the expectation has been that this flu season could be fairly rough."

Schools in Spencer and Oldham counties haven't been impacted yet due to widespread illness so far this season. But both counties are reporting a small rise in cases. 

Oldham has seen at least six cases so far this year. Spencer County reported a doubling of cases from eight to 16 in the past two weeks, with the majority of cases in patients under the age of 19.

"Anyone can get sick, and every year, unfortunately, we see children with no underlying health problems get sick and need to be in the ICU and things of that nature," Bickel said. 

He strongly recommends a flu shot for everyone, "because that will provide protection, especially against more severe disease."

Kentucky's largest school district, Jefferson County Public Schools, said it is not yet feeling the effects of flu season as much as other areas. Officials said they are monitoring cases at each school every day, but, right now, the spread is not bad enough to disrupt the school day.  

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