Virulent virus vitiates Greeley vitality

April 24, 2009
by Marci Garson

It was violent and it was swift and maintenance workers described the cleanup of a vicious stomach virus that careened its way through Horace Greeley High School this past week as horrendous.

It could be another two weeks before the New York State Department of Health confirms that the bug, which plagued 130 students and 10-15 staff, was indeed the pesky norovirus. “Based on preliminary interviews with those who fell sick and their symptoms,” explained Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesperson for the state health department,  “we have reason to believe it is the norovirus. We are currently waiting for the results of stool samples to determine the cause of the illness.” Once the health department confirms the cause of the outbreak, it will look into the source.

Unfortunately, the norovirus is tenacious and extremely contagious. It is a gastrointestinal virus that causes vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and dizziness.  The Westchester County Health Department warns the virus can be contracted by person-to-person contact, from contaminated food and it can even be airborne especially in an enclosed environment such as a school. Most victims will recover within a few days and the most serious consequence is dehydration, so patients should drink plenty of liquids.

Students crowd the nurse’s office

“It began in waves,” recalled Greeley school nurse Kathy Brehm. “Kids started coming in at eight in the morning on Thursday [April 16] complaining of feeling sick. Then there was another round at 11:00.” By the afternoon, nurse Miette Cvijanovich admitted, “my eyebrow was raised.” She immediately contacted principal Andrew Selesnick and he alerted the Westchester County Department of Health that forty students had been sent home complaining of nausea, vomiting and stomach pains.

The health department sent two investigators to Greeley on Friday to conduct interviews and to advise maintenance workers on the cleanup. The county health officials returned to the school on Monday and throughout the week. The health department provided kits to local physicians in order to collect stool samples. Those kits were then sent to the New York State Department of Health for laboratory analysis.

“There was no panic here,” reported Selesnick. “We knew it had all the symptoms of a virus, it just spread more quickly than what we were used to. I was concerned for the kids.”  Thursday evening maintenance crews were given the grim task of cleaning and sanitizing bathrooms, which were overflowing. Sinks, doorknobs, desks and the cafeteria were disinfected with bleach and water. Water fountains were shut down after administrators learned that children who had been sick had used the fountains to rinse out their mouths.

“It was a disaster,” commented Joe Gramando, Greeley’s director of facilities, operations and maintenance, who oversaw the cleanup. “Dave Fernandez, the head of maintenance at Greeley, said he had never seen anything like this in his entire career.”

On Friday, after 90 more students reported being sick, administrators decided to close school at 12:00 noon and conduct a thorough cleanup and airing out of Horace Greeley as well as the other schools in the district.

“What we did was send out full crews to every school in the district and disinfected everything, you name it; door handles, desks, the kitchen and cafeteria,”  Gramando stated. This was standard procedure for the entire week, he added. He also ordered Purell hand sanitizers for the cafeteria. “We are doing our best,” he commented.

The best defense is simple hand washing

Hand sanitizers may wipe out some germs, but even Purell can’t kill the norovirus and neither can antibiotics. The best way to protect yourself and to stop the disease from being transmitted, according to the state health department, is to wash your hands for at least thirty seconds. Wash your hands before you eat; wash your hands after you go to the bathroom; simply wash your hands as often as you can.

The Health Department gave the same advice to the headmaster at The Hackley School in Tarrytown last fall when nearly 200 students were stricken with the norovirus.

Headmaster Walter Johnson said it was “a great opportunity to teach children about hand washing.”  Johnson acknowledged that it wasn’t easy for a lower school child to follow the thirty second rule, so teachers taught them to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” while washing.  As for older kids, Johnson put it this way, “Just say fecal-oral hand to mouth.  That’s how the virus is spread and that really is a great motivator.”  It is gross, he admitted, but it is effective.

Johnson says Hackley was back to normal in five school days after an intense cleanup up and some changes in the cafeteria, such as eliminating self serve stations.

Selesnick reported that Greeley has limited its lunch items to include more packaged and pre-made selections, but he insisted that none of the cafeteria food was contaminated and food poisoning has been ruled out. Last Friday, before school was closed early, the principal said staffers did throw out food that had been out and may have been exposed to sick students. “That was just a precaution,” he said. “You can wipe down a water fountain, but you can’t wipe down a sandwich roll.”

If you even suspect you’re sick, stay home

Selesnick is adamant: “People need to stay home if they are sick. If they are not feeling well, we want them to stay home for at least 48 hours from the time of their last symptom, to be safe.”  The nurse’s office reported that the highest concentration of the virus appeared in sports groups, primarily, that office believed, because the athletes came back to school earlier than they should have, either to practice or to stand by their team on the sidelines of a game.

Three cafeteria members came down with the virus and Greeley’s principal said they were told to stay home even longer than 48 hours since they handle food. The last thing high school administrators wanted was to recycle this brutal bug.

Nurse Cvijanovich said she hopes something positive will come out of this. “We have learned, not only as nurses, but as a community, that at times like this we need to work together, not in panic or fear, but as one big team.”

A bit frightening, but life goes on

Just thinking about the virus made some students feel sick. Tenth grader Josh Colbert reported, “some kids think they’re sick when they’re not.”  Still, he admitted he is a little squeamish. “I’m hesitant to touch some school materials,” and Colbert was only half joking when he called the virus evil.

However, according to one mom who spent nearly ten hours nursing her son through the night on Thursday, “Your kid will survive, but your carpet may not.” 

Marci Garson is an Emmy-award winning television reporter. For 15 years she covered national news on Capitol Hill and local news in Miami, Florida, Connecticut and New York. Garson moved to Chappaqua in 1995 to raise her two boys.