Father Judge H.S. Officials Hoping For Definitive Answer To Sunday Illnesses
By Robin Culverwell
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- School officials at Father Judge High School are meeting today with members of a company they've hired to see if they can determine what sickened between 150 and 200 people over the weekend.
School president Father Joseph Campellone says health inspectors, the fire department, and hazmat crews were called in after people complained of eye and skin irritation (see previous stories).
All who became sick attended a cheerleading competition at the school on Sunday (see related story).
Campellone says it's baffling to him because there was a basketball game at the school on Friday and no one got sick then. There was an event on Saturday, and again no one fell ill.
Then on Monday, he says, when the police and fire departments had crews there, no one complained of any ailments either.
Campellone says crews have determined that the air in Father Judge school is clear. Now they are awaiting the results of "swab tests." In other words, investigators are looking at things people touch as a possible source of the illness rather than an airborne irritant.
The school will be open on Thursday.
----------
