ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A day after more than a dozen students and a teacher went home sick from Creekside High School with a suspected stomach virus, most of the student body did not show up for school, according to the St. Johns County School District.
On Thursday, 179 students were absent from the school and a total of 190 students checked out before the end of the school day, but it’s unclear why those students went home early.
Dr. Daniel Thimann, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, said there are different viruses that can cause the kinds of symptoms that Creekside students were reporting.
Other parents and students also said they believe the number of students who are sick is much higher, but the school district only confirmed 19.
At nearby Bartram Trail High School, parents were lined up Friday afternoon to check their children out of school.