A Staph infection mainly throughout the Football team has caused all three of the boys locker rooms to be professionally cleansed, and evacuated last Monday.

Teams including cross country, boys soccer, and the football locker rooms were wiped spotless monday night after Athletic Director, Sean McGinnis got word of the possible outbreak.
Information about the infection originally came from the school nurse, Mrs.Goldsmith, after one of the football players came to her with a rash that had a possibility of being Staph. She immediately called McGinnis to inform him about the issue.
“We were notified right towards the end of school that there was a situation. And by four o’clock, we had already had it addressed.” said McGinnis.
According to Mary Goldsmith, the school nurse at Triton High School, Staph is “A bacterial infection. There are a lot of different strains of Staph, Staphylococcus it’s called. It’s a very common infection. But it becomes an infection when it grows on sores and wounds and that’s when it can spread to other people.”
The Triton Football team was called to the High School library at the end of the day for a meeting about the infection. The team was sent to the locker rooms by squad (varsity, Jv, and Freshman teams) to clean out their dirty towels, clothes, and equipment in an orderly manner.
According to Christopher Walsh, Triton’s Facilities Manager, the football team was very cooperative in their efforts to clean up. “We took ‘Universal Precautions’, everybody gloved up and we started to treat it immediately.” He says that every player understood that this was a serious issue of a possible skin infection and wanted to get it cleaned up ASAP.
Walsh acted very quick about the situation after he saw what a mess the room was. He states how horrendous the locker room looked and how unsanitary it really was. “I saw the condition of the locker room and it was a huge housekeeping mess. One of the worst I’ve ever seen in my 20 years in the school. There was equipment, bath towels, undergarments, socks, uniforms, everywhere in piles…It was a very unsanitary environment.”
In an email to faculty and staff, Goldsmith wrote on Tuesday, Oct. 24 that it was indeed a confirmed case of staph and that the student who had the rash told her “it was going around to other players.” That’s when Goldsmith and McInnis took the initiative to meet with all the players to make sure they knew the importance of keeping their equipment sanitary and the locker rooms were cleaned professionally.
Goldsmith also wants to make it known that “We had three cases. Two were minor and there was one that was pretty significant. But it’s all taken care of, its all done with.¨ There is no need to worry about the infection spreading to students and homes because it has been contained and treated effectively.
Although Goldsmith confirmed three cases within the football team, Triton Football Coach, Patrick Sheehan, expresses how he had 6 cases in total of the infection, but at levels that were harmless or not contagious.
Several football players including Dylan Shute, and Tommy Lapham both insisted that this whole event was blown up for no reason.
“It’s not that big of a deal honestly, I have not been affected by it and it’s definitely been blown out of proportion. Certain kids get a couple rashes and everybody freaks out” Said Shute.
Football captain Tommy Lapham felt that
“ It’s not a big deal at all, a few kids had some rashes that they didn’t go to the doctor early enough for, and that’s basically how this situation escalated.”