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Mysterious illness among students causes Westport school to close

July 30, 2019

A third of Westport North’s 189 students were off sick yesterday.

A small West Coast school is closed until Friday due to an unknown illness outbreak among one third of its students.

Buller District's Westport North School, with a roll of just 189, stated on its Facebook page that 66 students were away yesterday due to "some very nasty bugs doing the rounds".

A notice through their website suggested that due to "high levels of sickness, the [Board of Trustees] has decided to close the school for the next three days".

The school says they will be disinfecting and cleaning all school surfaces and a call will be made on Thursday whether or not they open on Friday. 

Dr Ramon Pink from Canterbury DHB says the"West Coast District Health Board is working with the Westport North School to determine the cause of the recent outbreak of illness."

Samples have been taken today from the school and they are waiting on the results to be processed.

Dr Pink says an influenza-like illness is circulating the West Coast community and it's having significant impact in some schools and workplaces, encouraging those who are unwell to stay at home until they have improved.

A concerned parent told 1 NEWS that her son was taken off school last week with symptoms of E. coli. 

The parent, who did not want to be named, blamed the water quality in the area for the sickness outbreaks. 

Over the past couple of weeks Buller District Council were undertaking water testing on the Westport/Carters Beach Water Supply and therefore had a precautionary boiled water notice.

Yesterday the boiled water notice was lifted and a Buller District Council Spokesperson told 1 NEWS that, "it's certainly unfortunate and a coincidence that a viral outbreak at the school was to occur during this time". 

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