Some Teller County schools have had an unexpected case of déjà vu.

The highly contagious Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease has been making the rounds, leaving behind sick kids and worried adults. And it’s feeling a lot like a truncated version of the dreadful novel coronavirus pandemic of 2020.

“We learned a lot back in COVID and acted immediately,” said Superintendent Dan Cummings, who heads Cripple Creek-Victor School District RE-1 in Cripple Creek.

The district’s Junior High School had a couple of recent Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease cases that were “very acute,” he said, arriving suddenly and simultaneously.

Fever, sore throat and rashes and blisters on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet and inside and around the mouth are symptoms that typically appear in summer and early fall, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“We did preemptive measures and added cleaning measures to sanitize everything between classes,” Cummings said.

After consulting with the local county health department, the small school district of about 325 students encouraged additional handwashing throughout the day, provided hand sanitizer in hallways and classrooms, and gave teachers wet wipes to frequently scrub tables and other surfaces, he said. Even basketballs.

“We haven’t had any new cases in a week,” Cummings said. “I don’t know if our quick action averted a larger outbreak or what.”

A similar scenario played out at Lake George Charter School, which has about 175 students in pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade.

It’s in neighboring Park County but enrolls students from Teller County as well.

Four to five cases popped up in the preschool room of 19 students, which is adjacent to the main building, said Lizzie Pressel, health aide.

Thankfully, she said, the disease didn’t spread beyond the tykes, who stayed home while actively flaring with the angry-looking red spots that characterize the disease.

Deep cleaning, constant disinfecting and keeping children away from close encounters helped foil any contagion, Pressel said.

Woodland Park School District RE-2 also has been affected. The district’s Summit Elementary School in Divide and the Woodland Park Junior-Senior High have had incidents of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in recent weeks, parents reported on social media.

The condition is typically mild, but the symptoms can be brutal.

“It’s not fun,” Pressel said, speaking from personal experience.

She got the viral illness when she was entering first grade and missed the first two weeks of the new school year.

“I couldn’t eat – there were so many sores in my mouth,” she said.

Pressel was infected again nine years ago at age 31, the only one in her family to contract it from who knows where.

“I had sores in my mouth and on my hands, my head hurt really, really bad, I had body aches,” she said. “I wore gloves the whole time. It’s best to wear a mask and not get in close contact with anybody.

“It’s kind of like COVID, where you want to quarantine yourself away from people because it spreads super easy — if you touch anything like a door handle.”

The infection can also be passed on through infected saliva, respiratory droplets and viral shedding of rashes and blisters, according to the state health department.

People also should avoid touching or shaking hands with others.

Babies and children under age 5 typically come down with the virus, though it can appear in teens and adults, the state agency says.

There’s no prescribed medication for the condition, which usually runs a course of one week to 10 days and then goes away. There’s no vaccine in the U.S. for the virus.

Babies with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease become terribly fussy and irritable, said Melinda Littig, whose grown children had the virus when they were young. Now, she’s concerned about her grandchildren who attend school in Cripple Creek.

“We haven’t heard much about it, and I don’t think that’s right,” she said. “It’s a big deal, and parents need to keep their kids home from school if they have a fever or the flu or something. They also need to report what their kids have. It’s careless not to.”

The state health department does not track individual incidents, according to its website. But infections should be reported to local schools.

Also, there is a Colorado health reporting hotline for urgent concerns, 303-692-2700, or 303-370-9395 after normal business hours.