Enterovirus Hits Southampton
Parents and school administrators were on high alert Tuesday afternoon, following news that Southampton Elementary School would shutter its doors for a thorough cleaning yesterday after one of its students had come down with enterovirus.
A letter from Scott Farina, the district’s superintendent, said that the student did not have enterovirus 68, a pernicious strain of an otherwise common virus that causes respiratory distress — and whose rapid and sudden onset is a particular threat to infants, children, and teenagers.
The Southampton student was diagnosed over the weekend and did not attend school on Tuesday. Public schools were closed on Monday in observance of Columbus Day.
In recent weeks, two young children in New Jersey and Michigan have died from enterovirus 68, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently citing 691 cases in 46 states.
Mr. Farina explained that Southampton Elementary would close yesterday to undergo a “cleaning by an outside professional cleaning company.” The company was to disinfect the entire school building, applying an “antibacterial product to further prevent the spread of germs.”
Since it is a respiratory illness, enterovirus 68 is spread by an infected person’s secretions — through saliva, mucus, and feces. It most likely spreads from person-to-person contact, when an infected person either coughs or sneezes and then touches a surface that is shared by others, thereby making schools particularly vulnerable breeding grounds.
To avoid catching and spreading enterovirus, Mr. Farina echoed the C.D.C.’s recommendations to wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, avoid close contact with people who are sick, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or a shirtsleeve (but not your hands), clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, and keep sick children home and out of school.
Though Southampton Elementary planned to reopen its doors today, other South Fork districts are paying close attention — each hoping to stop the virus before it can spread.
Richard Burns, the East Hampton superintendent, said that custodians were directed to “take extra care in wiping down door knobs, bathrooms, and heavily used areas as preventative measures.”
Eleanor Tritt, the Amagansett superintendent, said that the entire school would undergo an extra cleaning over the weekend. “We’re also in the process of replacing soap and paper towel dispensers with motion-activated ones and wiping down our buses,” she said, noting that a letter would be sent home to parents, reminding them about the importance of frequent hand washing and usual methods of keeping things clean.
“We disinfected classrooms as a precautionary measure,” said Lois Favre, the Bridgehampton superintendent.
Despite growing levels of hysteria, Zachary McClain, a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, advocated a common-sense approach.
“Enterovirus causes common colds every year and the important thing to do is what you would do for any virus,” said Dr. McClain, who doesn’t study infectious disease, but takes care of children and teenagers. For preventing the spread of enterovirus, he emphasized hand-washing, and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces when someone is sick. “It’s important to keep schools clean and for kids to stay home when they’re sick.”