Number of People to Be Tested for TB at CA High School Increased to 300 ‘Close Contacts’

“Solano County Public Health officials on Wednesday will begin testing nearly 300 people who were identified as ‘close contacts’ to a person confirmed in an active case of pulmonary tuberculosis disease associated with Armijo High School,” the Fairfield-Suisun Daily Republic reports.

When Solano County Public Health officials went public on February 16 with news that someone associated with Armijo High School, located in Fairfield, had been diagnosed with active TB, Solano County Public Health’s Dr. Michael Stacey said that “over 200 people” would be tested for TB, as Breitbart News reported.

But on Wednesday, Stacey said the number who now need to be tested has increased by as many as 100 people.

“We are throwing a wide net to identify anyone (who was exposed). We wanted to be extremely cautious,” Stacey told the Daily Republic.

Solano County Public Health officials as well as Fairfield-Suisun School District officals responsible for Armijo High School are refusing to provide information on the immigration status of the individual diagnosed with active TB. They are also refusing to identify whether that individual is a faculty member, a staff member, or a student.

“The Armijo High School student newspaper identified the person as a student, only to issue a correction Tuesday,” the Daily Republic reported:

“In a student-written article, the school newspaper, The Armijo Signal, inadvertently printed ‘the student who has TB.’ The identity, age or position of the individual has not been shared with the editor, adviser or newspaper staff, nor has it been shared with any of the students or the staff at Armijo. We apologize for the error,” according to a statement released Tuesday by newspaper adviser Lynne Herring.

The correction comes after the Daily Republic, in an online article announcing the increase in the number of people to be tested, cited the Armijo paper as the primary source for identifying the patient as a student. It was not the only source.

Solano County Public Health and Fairfield-Suisun School District officials have not given out any information about the patient, including whether that person is a student, a member of the faculty or other employee at Armijo. The only information released is that a case of TB was confirmed Feb. 7 and has been associated with the high school

“It can take up to eight weeks for that test to become positive,” Stacey told the Daily Republic.

“And that’s the goal. If there was anyone who was infected, we want to treat them before they get the active disease,” Stacey added.