Knight Elementary to Close Due to Stomach Flu Outbreak

Update 4:47pm - Sloan Roach of GCPS says teachers and staff will not report to school. Disinfecting of the school will take place Friday per the health department's recommendations.

Original post, Nov. 7:

A Lilburn elementary school will close Friday after an unusually large number of students fell ill.

The Gwinnett County Health Department is recommending Knight Elementary, located at 401 North River Road in Lilburn, to cancel classes after about 10 percent of its 720 students contracted gastroenteritis, or the stomach flu.

"A number of students also went home from school today with similar symptoms," said Gwinnett County Public Schools spokesperson Sloan Roach in a release. "More than 80 students were affected today."

This kind of illness can easily be spread in classrooms.

Gastroenteritis usually develops one to two days after exposure to the virus and will get better in one to ten days without medication.

The Gwinnett Health Department shared the following tips in a letter sent out to Knight Elementary parents Thursday:

• Watch your child and members of your family to see if they develop diarrhea, and/or vomiting. 
• If your child develops diarrhea, contact your child’s physician. Inform your doctor that students diagnosed with gastroenteritis attend your child’s school.
• Encourage your child and family members to thoroughly wash their hands before preparing or eating food, after using the toilet, and upon returning home from school in the afternoons.
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers often are not effective against these types of viruses so be sure to use soap and water when washing your hands.

Knight Elementary is expected to re-open Monday, Nov. 11. If a child is still sick when school re-opens, Principal Toni Ferguson asks parents to keep that child home until they show no symptoms without medication for 24 hours.

No other schools are affected.

See the PDF of the letter sent home to parents for more information in our media gallery.

What do you think about the health department's decision to shut down the school? Tell us in the comment section below.

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