With 22 cases of whooping cough now confirmed on Whidbey Island, health officials are recommending — but not requiring — that Little League and girl’s softball All-Star tournament games be called off to help prevent spread of the disease.
“We can’t order them stopped,” Dr. Roger Case, Island County’s health officer, said Tuesday night.
Whooping cough, also called pertussis, is a very contagious disease, he said. It can be serious for infants and debilitating for older children and adults.
Case said he expects the number of cases to grow.
Andy McRea, an All-Star team coach and president of the South Whidbey Little League, said Case told him about the spread of whooping cough on the island late Tuesday afternoon. McRea said he was unsure how it might affect playoff games.
Approximately 18 teams are involved in the playoffs.
“It’s an unprecedented situation,” he said.
Only the host leagues have the authority to cancel the tournaments, McRea said.
McRea said it would be a tough decision to call off the games.
“We’re right in the middle” of Little League tournaments, he said. All age brackets are either just finishing their games or down to the last three to four games.
Three tournaments are being held in Oak Harbor and another is being held in Burlington, he said.
“To tell someone you can’t play a championship game because someone might get sick is pretty tough,” McRae said.
Calling off the games would likely prevent winners from advancing to state tournaments for their age groups, he said.
McRea said he would send out a message Tuesday evening to the leagues with participating teams to inform them of the situation.
Paul Williams, a Little League district administrator on Whidbey Island, said Tuesday night that he had not been told of the recommendation to call off tournament games. He said he wanted to talk to Case before making any decisions.
The girls tournament starts Sunday, and three tournaments for boys teams are scheduled to continue through the weekend in Oak Harbor, he said.
“Do we just eliminate Whidbey kids from the tournament?” he asked. “It would be a major deal for these kids.
“I’ll do whatever the health department wants us to do,” Williams said. “If they want us to stop the tournaments, we’ll stop the tournaments.”
The whooping cough outbreak began in June but has snowballed this month, Case said.
On Friday there were 18 confirmed cases, he said, and by Monday it had grown to 22.
About two-thirds of the patients are children. Most of the reported cases are on south Whidbey Island.
“We asked the Little League people to forego games until this is over,” Case said.
“You can’t stop the spread of the disease if you allow people to run around coughing all over the place.”
Before age 7, children should get five doses of vaccine, he said. A sixth vaccination is required at age 12.
Most cases occur in people who are either not immunized against whooping cough or partially immunized, Case said.
However, even people who have gotten the shot can come down with a mild form of the disease.
That’s why there’s a recommendation that adults get booster shots about every 10 years, he said. “Many adults don’t realize that.”
Case said he hopes people get the message that if children or adults have a suspicious cough, they need to get it checked out.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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