Dearborn Heights School Closes Amid Hand Foot And Mouth Outbreak

When it comes to the spread of Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease, parents need to be as diligent as possible to protect their kids, and a city full of parents is now on high alert.

Pardee Elementary School in the Dearborn Heights school district #7 sent out a letter to parents informing them that, at the time of the release, 20 reported cases of Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease had appeared within the school.

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WXYZ reported that the Dearborn High School District #7 Mark Kleinhans highlighted the urgency to close the school on Wednesday, October 29th, out of caution:

We don’t like to close school, but at some point, we need to take steps to make sure we’re keeping everybody safe.

 

WXYZ also reached out to the superintendent of the school district, who had the following message for them:
I am closing Pardee Elementary tomorrow due to the 20+ cases we have of Hand-Foot-and-Mouth disease. I have Enviroclean coming in to do a deep clean and disinfect (spray) all surfaces throughout the building.

The Health Department does not give a recommendation on when to close school however, they use 20% of the population of students as a threshold, considering it an outbreak. We are under that percentage but believe we have more cases that are not reported and closing will allow for a thorough cleaning.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease is a highly contagious human disease caused by coxsackievirus or other enteroviruses, for which there's currently no treatment other than fever reducers.

It's spread from person to person through the discharge from the infected person’s nose, throat, feces, or fluid in blisters. More info on the disease can be viewed here.