A Barrie father of two says he hasn’t been so sick in about 15 years.
“I was throwing up all night,” said the man, whose entire family suffered from a gastrointestinal illness last month. “It hits you really fast. My dog was sick as well.”
Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit officials believe there is no general gastrointestinal outbreak and that 45 calls from the public involving approximately 100 people who have become sick are related to a visit at a single business.
The man, who asked his name not be used, believes it may be tied to a birthday party his wife and youngest child attended at a south-end Barrie play facility on Feb. 13. He had stayed home with his oldest child, who already wasn’t feeling well.
The next day, the youngest child began vomiting and was very sick for two days. The entire family then became sick, which included “throwing up at both ends,” within four days.
He says several others who attended the party also experienced similar symptoms along with their family members.
Repeated rapid tests for COVID-19 returned negative results.
Funvilla, located on King Street in Barrie, has a variety of play areas and opened in December 2019, months before the pandemic was declared. It also has facilities in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and London.
Funvilla owner Faisal Zafar said there’s no evidence that the recent reports of gastrointestinal illnesses in Barrie has been tied to the facility, but is taking precautions just the same given concerns posted on social media.
“The outbreak is general in the Muskoka and Simcoe region… (and) it has absolutely nothing to do with our facility,” Zafar said.
An enhanced cleaning schedule was adopted when COVID-19 resulted in the world pandemic.
And even though Zafar does not believe the Barrie business is tied to any outbreak, Funvilla is responding by stepping up cleaning and plans to close for the entire day on Thursday.
“We enhanced our cleaning even further,” he said. “We just did not want to take any chances. We have hired a third-party cleaning (service).”
Funvilla was among the many businesses forced to close for periods during the pandemic. Zafar said since the latest reopening, with reduced capacity limits during the second week in January, the response has been good and the Barrie facility has often been operating at capacity.
Responding to questions via email, Simcoe-Muskoka's associate medical officer of health, Dr. Colin Lee, indicated officials are trying to get to the bottom of the illnesses. He believes there’s no relationship to COVID-19.
“At this time, our investigation is focused on the reported gastrointestinal illnesses associated with visiting Funvilla,” he wrote in the email to BarrieToday. “ We have been working and continue to work with Funvilla to increase their control measures for such illnesses.”
Lee said it is normal to have gastrointestinal outbreaks, as well as respiratory illnesses, during the winter in long-term care homes, retirement homes and child-care centres — which are reported on the health unit’s website. But there are no gastrointestinal outbreaks currently reported at these facilities.
Meanwhile, the Barrie father said his family has been very cautious given that COVID-19 continues to be a going concern in the community. And they’ve been staying away from outings, for the most part. The Feb. 13 outing, he said, was a rare time they had ventured out.
“I’m almost positive it came from that place, because we’ve been pretty quarantined, we don’t really go out much… mind you our kids do go to school,” he said.
Viral gastroenteritis is an infection of the stomach and intestines, caused by a virus, according to the Sick Kids website recommended by the local health unit. The main symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting that can result in a loss of fluids or dehydration.
It can be spread by sharing food, water and utensils. Frequent hand washing can help prevent the spread of infection to others.
Viral gastroenteritis is usually not a serious illness, the website indicates, but those with weak immune systems are at risk for more serious infection.
