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Zumbrota campground: open and busy after outbreak report, response

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The swimming pool at Shades of Sherwood campground in Zumbrota was temporarily closed and hyper-chlorinated to kill any existing cryptosporidium. It has since reopened and was busy Saturday.

ZUMBROTA

Dozens of campers could be seen swimming, biking and lounging at the Shades of Sherwood campground pool on Saturday.

This comes after a recent report from the Minnesota Department of Health citing a cryptosporidium outbreak and linking it to the site.

Often simply called "crypto," it is the most common cause of recreational water illness outbreaks in the United States.

After following suggested MDH protocols and closing the nearby pond, owner Mike Thoreson said Shades of Sherwood has been open for business for campers.

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"Our first priority obviously is everybody being safe and healthy," Thoreson said. "We’ve followed every recommendation that the MDH has given us."

The MDH report released Friday said 72 people have now been identified as part of a waterborne illness outbreak associated with the campground. It also said the first person became ill on July 1 and the most recent became ill on Aug. 3.

Thoreson thinks the report — as well as many subsequent news stories — has been misleading.

"The numbers they are pushing in that press release are not confirmed cases, and I had asked them to make that clear," he said. "With the MDH continuing to drum it up, people are thinking that we don’t have it essentially under control. It makes it look like it’s still coming from here."

So far, the MDH has only confirmed three cases of cryptosporidium. The count of 72 references people who had symptoms consistent with cryptosporidiosis or STEC infection and contacted the Health Department.

According to other sources, however, MDH spokesperson Doug Schultz said the reported numbers are low.

"If anything, these are conservative numbers, as we have identified many additional ill people who do not meet our strict case definition," Schultz said. "As with any investigation, those with laboratory confirmation are a small proportion of the total number ill."

72 out of 7,500

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Thoreson said Shades of Sherwood sees around 1,500 visitors during a normal, uninterrupted weekend.

The campground has 355 campsites; Thoreson said those are usually full, and that the campground has a waiting list from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Based on 1,500 visitors per weekend, that means some 7,500 people visited Shades of Sherwood during the five weekends during which MDH received reports tied to the outbreak. The 72 people cited in the report come to just under 1 percent of all the campers who visited during that time.

"The vast majority isn’t sick and hasn’t been sick, especially talking about a lot of our permanent campers that are here every single weekend and swim in every body of water we have," he said. "We still have the same amount of confirmed cases we started with a month ago."

Since the first confirmed case, he said thousands more have come through and used the site.

While the Health Department has named Shades of Sherwood as the link of the illnesses, the report says MDH cannot confirm the source of the Cryptosporidium.

"We cannot say for certain what the original source of contamination may have been, but we have evidence that ill people were swimming in the facility’s various water features while still shedding the pathogens and reintroducing them into the features over time," MDH Infectious Disease Division Director Kris Ehresmann said. "Clearly there was contamination associated with this site and transmission has been occurring for some time."

Thoreson wants the community to know that the Shades of Sherwood staff has not only taken the necessary precautions, including hyper-chlorinating the pool for 17 hours and closing the "water park" pond since the report, but also that hundreds of other campers have safely used the pool before and after that time.

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"We’re just taking the necessary steps you can take to control and that’s all you can do," Thoreson said. "The reality is that I’m all for educating people and not spreading sickness, but the implication is that you’re only going to get sick if you come to Shades of Sherwood, and that’s patently false."

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Mike Thoreson, Shades of Sherwood campground owner

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