Gastro virus forces school into three-day shutdown

ONE of Queensland’s most prestigious schools will be forced to close its doors to avoid a Commonwealth Games health crisis after struggling to contain a virus outbreak that has floored hundreds of students.

The Southport School, the Gold Coast’s most expensive school, will shut down for three days later this month in a bid to eradicate an outbreak of norovirus which has plagued the campus for more than a month.

TSS has a large component of boarding students and the campus will accommodate hundreds of security guards during next month’s Commonwealth Games.

If they were to contract the norovirus it could have led to a disastrous outbreak sweeping throughout the thousands of officials, staffers and athletes.

After discussions with the Gold Coast Public Health Unit, school officials made the extraordinary call to close the school from March 26-28, just a week before the start of the sporting showpiece.

Some 400 students have been struck down by the gastro virus since the start of the year while the school also had to forfeit a recent round of the GPS school cricket competition. Closing the school three days before the scheduled Easter break will allow specialist teams tiem to perform an anti-viral clean before the arrival of Games personel.

Professor Paul Van Buynder from the Gold Coast Public Health Unit said work was continuing to control the norovirus outbreak ahead of the Games.

“The ongoing nature of the outbreak has been compounded by two different strains of norovirus circulating and the presence of other illnesses including influenza, RSV and pertussis in the children,” he said.