Quick Take
The shigellosis outbreak in Santa Cruz County has grown to 36 confirmed and suspected cases, mostly among the unhoused. Community organizations holding events in the Harvey West Park area continue to cancel them. Most recently, the Santa Cruz chapter of Omega Nu shifted its 34th annual Ducky Derby to a virtual event.
The ongoing shigellosis outbreak believed to have originated from the Friendship Garden encampment in the Harvey West Park area of Santa Cruz has expanded to 36 confirmed or suspected cases and affected yet another community event.
County Deputy Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci said Thursday that cases of the diarrheal illness have climbed in the past few weeks. Currently, he said, there are 20 confirmed cases and another 16 probable cases. He added that at least 90% of those are among people experiencing homelessness.
“Those that have been outside that group have been people that had close contact with them,” he said, adding that the outbreak is another example of the vulnerability of the county’s unhoused population. “If shigella is spreading, it’s possible other things are, too, and we haven’t detected them yet. This is a group that’s going to continue to require a lot of attention from us.”
In total, Ghilarducci said that a number of cases have come to local emergency rooms. Most of them were discharged without hospital admission, though a “small number” required hospitalization likely due to dehydration. So far, no one has had to be admitted to the intensive care unit.
Shigellosis is caused by the shigella bacteria. The strain causing the current outbreak, shigella sonnei, is easily transmissible, and infected people can shed the bacteria for up to four weeks after the illness. Symptoms last five to seven days, and include watery or bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and general malaise. While the majority of cases are not deadly, some infections can be severe enough to require hospitalization, especially in young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised.
Most infections are transmitted person to person via a fecal-oral route — typically due to poor handwashing, food preparation or contaminated water — but sexual transmission is also possible.
Ghilarducci also said that San Francisco’s public health department has reached out to him and together, they determined that there is an exact match in genetic sequencing between some of the cases in unhoused populations in both Santa Cruz and San Francisco.
“So, for whatever reason, there’s some communication between those groups that have allowed this to spread amongst them, but not really amongst the [general] public,” Ghilarducci said, adding that he does not currently know what the link between the communities might be.
Ghilarducci said that while the current outbreak is “significant,” the general public should not be overly concerned. Proper hand hygiene and cleanliness after using the bathroom — especially public restrooms — greatly reduces the risk. To mitigate further spread, the City of Santa Cruz, its community partners and other agencies are adding more portapotties and hand-washing stations, and distributing hygiene kits to the unhoused so they have soap and water more readily available.
The outbreak has forced the cancellation of some local community events that organizers had planned to hold in Harvey West Park.
Last month, organizers of the Santa Cruz Cookout postponed the event, set to be held at the park, because of the outbreak. Local emergency weather shelters have also started taking additional precautions when accepting guests, such as screening for symptoms.
On Thursday, the Santa Cruz chapter of Omega Nu said that this year’s Ducky Derby event, scheduled for April 27, will have to be virtual because of the outbreak. Omega Nu publicity co-chair Sandy Connolly said that having to cancel the in-person derby is “devastating.”
It is the 34th year of the event where thousands of rubber ducks are sent down a waterslide in a race to raise funds for scholarships, educational materials and community programs. This year will be only the second time that the fundraiser has been held virtually, with the other being in 2020 during the acute phase of the COVID pandemic. Since the event is always held at Harvey West Park, the organization decided to cancel the in-person festivities out of an abundance of caution.
“Most of our members are seniors and the event is for the joy of the children, both of whom are among the most vulnerable,” she said. “We have to put safety first.”
Connolly said the organization looked for other parks that could host the event, but none of the potential spaces had a slope that would accommodate the duck race. She added that the organization considered delaying the derby until June, but there is no guarantee that the shigellosis outbreak would be adequately quelled by then. That forced Omega Nu to hold the race online — replacing a physical duck race with a duck race video and a random-number generator to determine winners.
Connolly said that the organization is still encouraging people to sponsor ducks and enter for a chance to win a prize. While it’s not the event Connolly and the rest of Omega Nu hoped for, she said she is already looking forward to returning to an in-person event in the park next year.
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