PORT TOWNSEND – Port Townsend High School attendance policy is in full effect today after all of its athletic facilities were sanitized over the weekend.
Pre-schoolers at Grant Street Elementary will not return to class until Thursday, Superintendent Tom Opstad said.
Two cases of a potentially life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria were confirmed in the Port Townsend School District last week.
One case was that of a senior football player at Port Townsend High School and another of an adult who had entered the preschool at Grant Street Elementary.
Neither was identified by the school district, and both are said to be recovering.
A third case – of a second high school football player -is pending the results of laboratory tests.
The first case of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, confirmed Wednesday in a Port Townsend High School senior football player, resulted in the cancellation of Saturday’s final football game of the season.
That allowed athletic facilities on the high school campus to be disinfected on Saturday.
A second Port Townsend football player has been tested for MRSA, but lab results are pending, head football coach Tom Sly said Friday.
An adult who had entered the pre-school but was not named by the school district, also had a confirmed case.
The pre-school will be sanitized on Monday and Tuesday.
The school has a regular day off on Wednesdays so students won’t return until Thursday.
The preschool is in a separate facility from the rest of the elementary school, so the cancellations will not affect any other grade, Opstad said.
“They should finish spraying everything in the preschool [today], but then we’ll give the teachers a little bit to get everything in the classrooms wiped down before the kids get back,” Opstad said.
Cleaning crews spent the day Saturday spraying disinfectant on every surface in athletic facilities and classrooms in the area to get rid of any lingering MRSA bacteria.
“We probably have the cleanest facility in town, now,” Opstad said.
Two custodians spent four or five hours on Saturday spraying a solution of one part bleach to 100 parts water, as recommended by Jefferson County Public Health.
All of the football equipment will be rounded up and disinfected by a private company before next season.
Students were given the option of calling the attendance office for an excused day off on Friday; about 50 percent of high schoolers took up the offer, Opstad said.
In addition to the school’s efforts to eliminate the bacteria, hand-washing is considered key to preventing the spread of MRSA, said Tom Locke, health officer for Jefferson and Clallam counties.
