“The Whoop” has arrived, and it’s created an atmosphere of anxiety throughout the community.

Pertussis, also known as whooping cough, first showed up at SPA a little over a month ago, and it is a bacterial infection that affects the lungs. It’s a highly contagious disease, spread by coughing and sneezing, and causes a severe cough to develop that can last for four to six weeks or, in some cases, even longer. The cough, per its namesake, comes with a loud “whoop” sound and, if severe enough, can result in vomiting. The MN Department of Health (MDH) reports 1,622 total cases in Minnesota as of Nov. 7, 2024, with over 500 cases occurring in Hennepin County.

The administration took immediate action once the first case was reported, contacting the MDH to determine the next step in resolving the issue. They used the Department’s Vaccine Preventable Disease Reporting Form, which allows schools to report outbreaks or singular cases of common diseases, to do so.

The administration is working to ensure the community’s current and future safety around similar issues. “We’re carefully documenting what we are doing now, so we can continually improve our plan to monitor communicable diseases and significant illness in our school community,” principal Minnie Lee said.

Lee called on SPA to do their part in keeping their peers and families safe. “Situations like this call for a community-wide effort. We rely on students and families to … [follow] the guidelines and [report] symptoms and positive pertussis tests to the Health Office, so we can do our part in minimizing spread and mitigating this outbreak,” she said.
However, one way to stay safe if a case has already been confirmed is to stay away from others to stop the spread of the disease. SPA recommends that individuals with confirmed cases of pertussis quarantine for five days, the amount of time it takes for azithromycin, the antibiotic that combats the disease, to run its course. Because of this, students have expressed concern over missing school and falling behind on academic work.

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Ivy Evans

FORM FIRST. Upon reporting of the first case, administration took its first steps towards combatting the outbreak by contacting the Minnesota Department of Health via the Vaccine Preventable Disease Reporting Form.

“It really sucked, not because I was so sick, but because I didn’t feel that sick [and] had to quarantine and not do anything anyway,” sophomore Soren Zuehlke said.
For Zuehlke, it was not only a boring experience but a stress-inducing one; missing out on an extensive amount of school led to a buildup of academic work. Lee sympathized with this perspective but also recognized the importance of staying safe.

“Juggling academics and extracurricular activities is difficult to begin with,” she said.

Zuehlke advised students to be as careful as they see fit but encouraged them to prioritize their health. “I would say just be cautious,” he said. “If you’re nervous, wear a mask … whooping cough is only transmitted through cough germs, meaning you can’t get it by touching someone.”

Wearing a mask isn’t the only way to prevent the spread of the disease; the most reliable method is to get vaccinated. The Tdap vaccine grants immunization to pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria. The MDH recommends the vaccine for 11-12-year-olds and 13-19-year-olds who aren’t vaccinated.

“I’m hoping everyone can stay safe, and I understand that illness spreading like this can be nerve-wracking, but it’s important to, like, do our part in keeping the school healthy,” sophomore January Cook said.

The administration continues to work towards eliminating pertussis from the community, and students and families are doing their part in that process.