More Than 80 Babylon HS Students Out Sick With Stomach Virus

BABYLON VILLAGE, NY — More than 80 students were absent from Babylon Junior-Senior High School last week, due to gastrointestinal illness, Suffolk County Executive Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott announced.

On Friday, at least 89 students reported absent. There are roughly 700 students who attend the school, the district said.

Within hours, the department’s public health sanitarians visited the school to inspect the kitchen and food service areas. Officials from the department’s bureau of public health protection found no indication that the outbreak originated in the school’s cafeteria.

Though lab testing has not yet confirmed a cause of the outbreak, Pigott said that norovirus is suspected to be the cause.

“Norovirus has been circulating throughout the US for the last few months as it does every year, though an increase in cases compared to our COVID-19 pandemic years was reported by the CDC in February,” said Pigott. “We advise people to continue to wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and disinfect surfaces to avoid coming into contact with pathogens that cause norovirus.”

On Saturday, the district sent a letter to the school and surrounding community, addressing the possible virus.

"While most of these reports are coming from our high school population, we want to inform the community and encourage everyone to take proper precautions to avoid casual contact," said Brian Conboy, interim Superintendent and Carisa Manza, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

They continued to say that custodial staff cleaned and sanitized school surfaces, and encouraged all to be precautious.

The district told Patch that more than 100 students at Babylon Junior-Senior High School continued to be absent from school each day this week.

On Monday, the absences increased to 253 students, which the district said was unusually high.

Later on Wednesday, 147 students were absent. However, many of the school's 8th graders were being confirmed at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.

On Thursday, 112 students reported absent, which is still a slightly high number, school officials said.

“We have spoken to the families of many of the children who were infected and we are pleased that the outbreak was largely contained to the high school, with only a few cases in students in other schools in the district,” said Dr. Shaheda Iftikhar, chief deputy health commissioner and director of the department’s division of public health.

Norovirus is the leading cause of vomiting, diarrhea, and foodborne illness in the United States, Pigott said. It spreads through direct contact with a person with norovirus, most often by caring for them, sharing food, or eating food handled by them. People can also get norovirus by touching surfaces touched by someone who has norovirus.

People are most contagious when they are sick with norovirus illness and for a few days after they feel better.

Symptoms of norovirus illness begin suddenly, typically around 12 to 48 hours after a person is exposed to the virus and resolve within two to three days, Pigott said. The most common symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain. Other symptoms include fever, headache, and body aches.

There is no treatment for norovirus.

The health department’s caseworkers are continuing to investigate the outbreak.