Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School near Bethlehem was evacuated Friday afternoon after dozens of people, including students, became sick.
A total of 48 children and adults were taken to local hospitals, according to representatives of Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke’s University Health Network.
The fire department was called in around noon to the charter school in Hanover Township, Northampton County, for a potential mass casualty incident at the academy’s 7-12 grade building because students were feeling ill, according to Hanover Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Scott Van Why and Colonial Regional police Chief James DePalma.
When crews arrived, they found 11 symptomatic patients. Hazmat crews and other first responders were called in.
The building was still being inspected and no cause for the illnesses has been determined, Van Why and DePalma said Friday afternoon. The building remains closed, and parents were allowed to pick up their children.
DePalma asked that everyone else avoid the area if possible.
LVHN spokesperson Brian Downs said the health network received 33 children and 6 adults from the school and all were in stable condition. Of those, 17 children and one adult were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, 12 children and five adults were taken to LVH-Muhlenberg and four children to LVH-Hecktown Oaks.
Downs said he had no information about the symptoms these patients experienced nor did he have information about how many were released and how many were still hospitalized.
St. Luke’s University Health Network spokesperson Samuel Kennedy confirmed the network received nine patients. Four were taken to St. Luke’s Anderson campus and have since been released. Five others were taken to St. Luke’s Fountain Hill campus and had been discharged or were in the process of being discharged, Kennedy said late Friday afternoon.
The charter school has 1,825 students.
The incident is the second time this week that an area school was evacuated after students fell ill. Lehigh Christian Academy in Salisbury Township was evacuated Monday afternoon as a precaution after several students began to feel unwell. Multiple tests found no toxic chemicals or gases in the building.
Last month, 27 children and five adults were taken to hospitals after a carbon monoxide leak at an Allentown day care. Some of the patients from the Happy Smiles Learning Center were sent to Philadelphia hospitals for more intensive treatment, but all recovered. Quick action by first responders was credited with saving lives in that incident.
