More than 1,200 students were absent Wednesday after a highly contagious gastrointestinal illness swept through an Alabama school district.
More than half the infected children came from a single school, which was shut down through the remainder of the week so that the state Department of Public Health could investigate how the virus overtook its student body.
“Due to the amount of staff and students who are absent, the number who are experiencing symptoms, and in an effort to help contain the contagion, we unfortunately need to shut the building down,” Baldwin County Public Schools Superintendent Eddie Tyler said in a letter to parents.
“While out, we will be conducting a deep cleaning of the school so when students return next week, it will be sanitized to the fullest extent.”
Health officials have not…
