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School Scare: Students Text Parents 'Come Pick Me Up' After Coronavirus Rumor Spreads On Campus

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A school health scare rocked a Sacramento campus, as the first Northern California case of coronavirus was diagnosed in the Bay Area on Friday.

Students at Kit Carson International Academy saw school officials with masks and cleaning equipment and feared the worst.

It turned out there is no virus at all. The district office was closed for less than 15 minutes, but the fear of the virus caused students to send text messages to their parents, "Come pick me up."

"He said, 'Mom there's a coronavirus here.' He said he saw people with masks," said Darcelle Stuart.

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It's the latest example of the coronavirus health scare becoming real at the Sacramento-area elementary school. Leaders with the Sacramento City Unified School District said a student got sick and threw up inside the school's main office, but that student is not believed to have coronavirus.

A cleaning crew came in wearing masks and locked the office doors, which the district says is protocol during flu season. But rumors started flying and parents told CBS13 they called the school immediately to find out what happened.

Stuart said, "coronavirus, it's a huge thing, and for it to be here at the school, a virus can spread quickly."

With experts on edge and a case of the virus found just a few hours away in the Bay Area, parents said the fear of the spread is real.

"The thought it could be at my son's school was terrifying," said Stuart.

The district released a statement that reads: "We want to ensure our families that none of our students at Kit Carson International Academy have been diagnosed with, or are sick with the Coronavirus. The school was never under quarantine, and the Sacramento County Department of Public Health confirmed that there are no cases of this virus in Sacramento County. Kit Carson staff were following standard procedures and proper health precautions to protect our students, something they do whenever students show signs of a cold or the flu."

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