Stomach bug at Coventry elementary school may have been Norovirus

March 14, 2016 5:59 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

COVENTRY, R.I. – A widespread stomach bug at an elementary school in Coventry may have been the Norovirus.

Health officials are looking into it after more than 200 students and teachers at Washington Oak Elementary didn’t show up to class on Friday. That’s nearly 35 percent of the study body.

A spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health (DOH) tells us the symptoms students reported having line up with those of the Norovirus: fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Although it is contagious, DOH officials aren’t concerned about this illness spreading from school to school.

Debbie Starziano, whose grandson goes to Washington Oak, says the stomach bug made its way through her entire family in recent weeks. She called it “mortifying” for that many kids to be absent at once.

36 students were absent on Monday, according to Superintendent Michael Convery. He says at least 5 of them had the stomach bug symptoms.

To confirm if it indeed was Norovirus, parents would need to send a stool sample from their sick child to the Department of Health to be tested. The school received the kits to do so after school on Friday, but since most of the kids appear to be better, Convery says he’ll likely hold off unless there is another spike in illness. He says there has been no such spike at other schools in the district.

In the meantime, school officials are monitoring the situation with the department of health and custodians have been disinfecting the rooms extra carefully.