CHICAGO, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- An elementary school in Chicago area, the United States is closed for one week because of an outbreak of flu, local media reported.

Komarek School, which serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, will be closed through Friday so students can recuperate while the school is further disinfected, school superintendent Brian J. Ganan announced on Monday.

Komarek's closure follows the closing last week of Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) in suburb Chicago because of a spike in flu symptoms among students.

In IMSA, at least 88 students who are sick, as many as 20 percent of the faculty and staff at the school are also sick with flu.

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States by population.

Meanwhile, 87 students at Chicago's Saint Patrick High School are reported out sick Monday with the flu. That's reported to be one-seventh of the students at the all-boys Catholic school.

This year, a strong flu strain called H3N2 has been dominant and already spread to all U.S. states except Hawaii, University of California Berkeley said in a statement earlier this month.

Almost 12,000 people in the United States have been hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza since the season started, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

In the week ending Jan. 20, seven children died nationwide, bringing the total number of pediatric deaths this flu season to 37.

Researchers said it may not be enough for the public to just wash hands or cover up their mouths when coughing or sneezing.

Experts recommended the public to stay at least six feet (about 1.82 meters) away from anyone with influenza.