Enterovirus fears cause concern in lunch line

PENSACOLA, Fla. — With the recent outbreak of Enterovirus D68 cases throughout the nation, some Escambia County parents have expressed concern about the way food service is provided in Escambia County schools.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the CDC or state public health laboratories confirmed a total of 691 people in 46 states and Washington, D.C., with respiratory illness caused by EV-D68 from mid-August to Oct. 10.

One of those cases was a boy living in Escambia County and attending school in Santa Rosa County. That student is clear of the virus and back in class.

Dr. John Lanza of the Escambia County Health Department said it is likely that dozens of cases of EV-D68 were contracted and cured in the weeks ahead of the first official diagnosis in the county.

But some parents are worried that the practice of allowing students, even those as young as kindergarten age, to use shared utensils to serve themselves food from cafeteria lines, as is common in the school system, will inevitably lead to the rapid spread of the virus, especially as the virus has proved resistant to alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

"My concern is these children touching these spoons," said Katherine Alexander, grandmother of an asthmatic third-grader attending McArthur Elementary. "Something has got to be done, because it's only a matter of time before one of these children is going to get struck down.

We go down there and have lunch with our children, and I watch them in the lines, and you see them scratch their heads and pick their noses. There is no sanitation situation going on. There should be some accountability when it comes to the lunch line."

In its code concerning cafeteria settings, the Florida Department of Health, which oversees food safety in the public school system, stipulates that "Unwrapped