Can my child go to daycare with the flu?
No: a child with the flu stays home until they’ve had no fever for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine and are feeling better, then can go back. That’s the Texas rule for centers and the national standard; California’s health department advises the same, then extra care for five days.
Updated Oct 16, 2026. State rules and national guidance, not medical advice: if you’re unsure, call your child’s doctor.
Return to daycare: Texas, national (AAP) and California rules
| Texas centers | National standard (AAP) | California centers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stay home? | Yes. | Yes, with a fever and behavior change, or a fever with cough, sore throat or runny nose. | Up to the center. State guidance says stay home until symptoms are improving and there’s been no fever for 24 hours without medicine. |
| Back when | After 24 hours without fever and without fever-reducing medicine. | After 24 hours fever-free without medicine, with symptoms improving and able to take part. | Then take extra care for 5 days. |
| Doctor’s note | Not needed if the child meets that rule. A child a doctor diagnosed needs documentation that they’re no longer contagious. | No. | Only if the center’s policy asks for one. |
Texas: 25 TAC §97.7(a)(14), applied to centers by §746.3603. National: AAP quick-reference sheet. California: CDPH, I’m feeling sick; UCSF CCHP (Dec 2025). A Texas child sent home sick may also come back after 24 hours without symptoms or with a health professional’s statement (§746.3606). California leaves illness rules to each center’s written policy; its column is the state health department’s guidance.
How it spreads and how long it’s contagious
- Flu spreads mainly through droplets when people cough, sneeze or talk. People are most contagious in the first 3 days of illness and can spread it from the day before symptoms start; young children can stay contagious longer.
- Children are more likely than adults to have vomiting and diarrhea with the flu. Most children with flu-like symptoms during flu season actually have other viruses.
- Antiviral medicine works best when started within 2 days of getting sick. It doesn’t change the return rule: 24 hours fever-free without medicine.
Sources: CDC: about flu; CDC: treatment; AAP.
When to call the doctor
- Fast or hard breathing, ribs pulling in, or bluish lips or face: emergency
- Signs of dehydration: no urine for 8 hours, dry mouth, no tears when crying
- Not alert or interacting when awake, a seizure, or a fever above 104°F that medicine doesn’t bring down
- Any fever in a baby under 12 weeks, or a fever or cough that improves and then comes back worse
Sources: CDC. Call 911 if your child is struggling to breathe, turns blue or is hard to wake.
What the center has to do
In Texas, a single case of flu isn’t a notifiable illness (a child’s death from flu or a new flu strain is), but outbreaks are (25 TAC §97.3).
If a child shows signs of an illness that needs hospital care, a Texas center must call the parent right away and tell Licensing within two days (§746.307(b), §746.305(a)(3)).
California center staff must get a flu shot each year between August 1 and December 1, unless they have a medical exemption or sign a written declination, and must be immunized against whooping cough and measles (Health and Safety Code §1596.7995).
Beyond that, both states have general rules on sending sick children home and on telling Licensing and parents about outbreaks, and a center’s own written illness policy can be stricter: ask for it at enrollment. The Texas and California rules →
What the state records show
California has cited 1,441 licensed centers 1,700 times since February 2021 under the law requiring staff to be immunized against flu, whooping cough and measles (Health and Safety Code §1596.7995).
From Texas and California inspection, complaint and investigation records for centers licensed today; Texas counts are citations under the sick-child and parent-notice rules whose inspector notes name the flu. See all sick-child citations in the sick-day guide.
Common questions
How many days should a child stay home from daycare with the flu?
Until they’ve had no fever for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine and are feeling better. That’s the Texas rule and the national standard.
Does Tamiflu let my child go back to daycare sooner?
No. Antiviral medicine can shorten the illness, but the return rule is the same: 24 hours with no fever and no fever-reducing medicine.
Do daycare staff have to get a flu shot?
In California, yes: center employees and volunteers must get a flu shot each year between August 1 and December 1, unless they have a medical exemption or sign a written declination (Health and Safety Code §1596.7995).