NJ School District Shuts Down After Mystery Illness Sickens 60% of Staff at Luncheon

A New Jersey school district closed down its buildings after a mystery illness sickened dozens of staff members who attended a luncheon last week. 

On May 6, more than 60% of staff members with the Waterford Township School District experienced symptoms of a foodborne illness after attending a luncheon catered by an outside vendor at three school buildings. The district reported the illnesses to the Camden County Department of Health as well as the Waterford Township Police Department. 

“Right now we’ve had several reports of people noting diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and fatigue,” Camden County Assistant Public Health Coordinator Caryelle Lasher said. 

While the county health department has not yet determined the cause of the sickness, they also determined the suspected pathogens “could be highly contagious.” The district announced that all school buildings will be closed for two weeks as a result with a reopening expected on May 24. 

The district’s schools include Atco Elementary School, Thomas Richards Early Childhood Center and Waterford Elementary School. 

The school district switched to asynchronous learning on Tuesday in which students can log onto their computers but have to complete their assignments either alone or with their families. 

“We know she’s doing the right thing to make sure this doesn’t spread any further and we can get to the bottom of it,” Lori O’Donnell, a parent of a Waterford Township student, told NBC10. “To lose any more time in person, it’s just so unfortunate for these kids.” 

During the closure, a thorough cleaning and sanitization process will take place to help stop the spread of germs and illnesses. Meanwhile the health department continues to investigate the cause of the illness and where it originated from. 

“We have seen that there are a few different clusters that could possibly all be linked to the same outside vendor,” Lasher said. “So we’re investigating every single case.” 

While 100 people have fallen ill, only about a dozen cases have been investigated so far. 

“There are some food-borne illnesses that you can only get when you eat the food, those are like a toxin,” Lasher said. “And then there are some that are infectious. Like Salmonella or norovirus, that when you eat it you can share it to your household. 

So far there have been no reports of secondary illnesses. 

NBC10 spoke to the outside vendor that catered the event. A spokesperson told us they are extremely sorry anyone became sick. The spokesperson also said in 15 years they have never had any issues related to food in restaurants, takeout or catering.