Four cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease have been confirmed in four children at a local daycare facility.
Earlier this week, Little Explorers Childcare and Daycare received word four children, out of roughly 50 who use the facility, had come down with the disease. The daycare has been swift to respond and remains open.
“We’ve had four confirmed cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease,” said Nola Wallace, director of Little Explorers. “We saw some symptoms here, told the parents, and suggested they see a doctor. That’s how we confirmed what it was. We contacted Public Health, posted signs, and alerted parents. It’s a highly contagious disease, so the children who had it are at home.”
Nola Wallace, director of Little Explorers Childcare and Daycare, spoke with inSide Drumheller about four cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease at the daycare. The afflicted children are recovering at home, but the daycare remains open. Parents have been notified and everything at the daycare has been thoroughly disinfected.
In addition, the daycare staff disinfected everything at the daycare to ensure the disease is not transmitted to others.
“We do everything we can. There’s a lot of handwashing going on and we’ve bleached everything down,” said Wallace. “We work very hard to keep things clean, but when something like this happens, we work extra hard.”
Symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease include fever, headache, fatigue, malaise, referred ear pain, sore throat, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. The most iconic symptoms are oral, nasal, or facial lesions, ulcers, or blisters and a body rash, followed by sores with blisters on the palms of the hand, soles of feet, and sometimes on the lips.
This past week over 40 staff showed up to begin work at the Passion Play site. In another week more than 100 volunteer actors will begin rehearsals.
