Flu Outbreak Closes SF School

No snow days for San Francisco students, but there is a flu day today.

A San Francisco parochial high school in the outer Sunset is closed through the end of the week after a wave of gastroenteritis, or the stomach flu, hit a large  portion of the student body, according to the school's principal.

St. Ignatius College Preparatory, located at 2001 37th Ave., sent more than 90 students home Tuesday after they became ill at school. About 50  students had already called in sick Tuesday, school principal Patrick Ruff  wrote in a letter to parents posted on the school's website Tuesday.

Wednesday the school said it would remain closed through the end of the week.

Ruff said the school has been in contact with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, who advised school officials to sanitize the entire building.

Extra cleaning crews have been called in to sanitize the building, Ruff said, which prompted today's campus closure. All campus events have also been canceled, according to the letter.

Classes and campus activities are expected to resume Thursday.

The letter advised parents with sick children who may be suffering from stomach flu, to keep their children at home for at least 72 hours after fevers have lowered and vomiting or diarrhea has stopped.  

The principal wrote in his letter, "We are confident that through these measures we will get healthy very soon."   

Theschool's website listed 1,444 students enrolled at SI College Prep.

Bay City News

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