SUTTON, Mass. — Concerned parents in Sutton are questioning why they weren’t told about cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, within the school system.
Superintendent Theodore Friend told Boston 25 News there were two confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease. He said the school system has been working directly with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health – and is following their guidelines.
“They have not recommended sending out general notification to the entire community. They recommended sending out notification only to identified students with close contact,” Friend said in a statement.
But parents still say they should have been notified.
“I think with anything like that we should all be notified right away absolutely,” Jeannie Slivka said. “I worry, I do, especially because those kids were supposedly vaccinated, I do worry.”
The Massachusetts DPH says “close contact” is hard to define, but typically it’s anyone who is within three feet of someone for at least ten hours.
Whooping cough is spread by coughing.
“The vaccines don’t always work so it just depends – good sanitary habits are very encouraging too for people to do, I really think that’s one of the biggest downfalls,” parent Donna Miner said.
TOP STORIES:
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
