Citing privacy concerns, CDC won't give death cause

The Hussey School in Berwick. (Courtesy photo)

NORTH BERWICK, Maine - The Center for Disease Control has told MSAD 60 school personnel that no further information on what caused the death last week of a Hussey School first-grader will be released, but assured the community that parents, teachers and children are in no way at risk.

MSAD 60 Schools Superintendent Steven Connolly told The Lebanon Voice on Tuesday that the CDC felt privacy concerns were paramount for the little girl’s family.

The student, a girl, is said to have died on Friday.

Some news media outlets have chosen to report what the cause of death was, but that is speculation based on unofficial sources, Connolly said.

Connolly said school personnel reached out to the CDC over the weekend and on Monday to ask if there was anything the school could do to ensure no other students or staff are at risk and was told the school was in full compliance with all health and safety issues and that nothing additional need be done.

In an email to parents on Saturday Connolly said the cause of death may be infectious, but it is not an illness known as meningococcal disease, variations of which include the highly infectious disease often just called meningitis. 

The Maine Center of Disease Control and an infectious disease specialist in Boston have assured school officials all along that whatever the child died of poses no risk to the community.

The girl’s obituary appeared in The Lebanon Voice on Tuesday.