Hundreds miss class as illness sweeps through schools
Officials say almost 700 students didn't come to school in Person County, North Carolina, a day after many left early because of a gastrointestinal illness.
According to local reports, Superintendent Danny Holloman said there were 668 absences in the district Thursday, or 14 percent of the student population. Most of the absences came from Person High School, where more than 300 students stayed home.
More than 100 students and teachers were sent home from schools Wednesday after becoming sick. The county's health department called the outbreak a "gastrointestinal illness" and says symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and a low grade fever.
Holloman said it's not known how many students are actually sick and how many stayed home as a precaution.
CBS Raleigh affiliate WRAL reports Holloman realized something was going around just before lunch time yesterday, when large numbers of students were going home sick.
"A few of our teachers had also gone home," Holloman said. "A few of our teachers who never go home."
Clyde Bates, a sophomore at Person High School, said the illness was a distraction throughout the school day.
"Some people were cautious and staying away from people," he said. "They were not really touching stuff that was left around on the desk and all that. The teachers kept making us clean our area with Clorox wipes before we left class."
According to the Person County Health Department, a local doctor's office experienced a similar situation with several patients and staff members coming down with virus-like symptoms last week. The North Carolina Division of Public Health asked that samples be collected from students to use for testing. The samples will be tested for both norovirus and other enteric pathogens, officials said.