BLOOMFIELD, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – Testing for hazardous air quality issues will continue this weekend at the Eastern Greene County Schools middle school building following some kind of incident that sickened five people Thursday.
Those five people were taken to a hospital for a precautionary evaluation Thursday evening but have since been released. All Eastern Greene County Schools were closed Friday as the investigation continued.
The Greene County Health Department official investigating the issue, Peter Powers, said the symptoms of those taken to the hospital included burning eyes, cough and irritation of their airways.
Authorities located the possible air quality issue and confined it to a small area inside the middle school.
Local as well as state authorities are currently investigating and testing the area for a “possible air quality” issue, but say as of today all results have come up negative.
The school did confirm that there is no gas leak in the school.
Powers said further testing will be done Sunday.
Middle school principal Patrick Ault said until he hears from investigators, all Eastern County schools are on standby. As of Friday, the schools are closed until further notice.
“We are currently working with authorities,” Ault said. “The safety of all students and adults in the building were and are our top priority. We followed the directions given by the state fire marshal. At this time, we don’t know what is causing a possible air quality issue, so further testing is currently going on. We will advise families when we have more information.”
