BAXTER — The pool at the Lodge at Brainerd Lakes was closed Monday night after a person with a confirmed case of cryptosporidiosis, a water-borne intestinal disease, was linked to the Baxter motel pool, a Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) epidemiologist said.
Trisha Robinson, an MDH epidemiologist, said an ongoing investigation by the department is looking at two other reports of diarrheal illnesses consistent with cryptosporidiosis. She said cryptosporidiosis is a profuse, watery diarrhea accompanied by vomiting and stomach cramps and a low grade fever. She said the Lodge has worked with the department’s environmental health officials and has raised and maintained the chlorine level to a very high level. After the chlorine is kept at a high level for a certain number of hours it is then brought back down to a safe operating level, she said.
Mark Zovic, general manager at the Lodge said Wednesday night the process had been followed and the pool had almost returned to a normal chlorine level. Plans called for the pool to reopen at 9 a.m. Thursday (March 29), he said.
Robinson said a pool can develop problems if a person with cryptosporidiosis swims in the pool. She said one to two weeks can pass between the time when a person is exposed to the parasite until the symptoms become apparent.
Zovic said the health department tested the pool about 10 days ago and no problems were found.
“It’s unfortunately one of those things,” he said. “We followed all the procedures.”
Robinson said the most important message is that if people are sick or have been sick with diarrhea in the past two weeks they should stay out of public pools.
The Associated Press reported the health department has also linked the parasitic disease to a Duluth water park. The problem has been linked to the Edgewater Resort and Water Park. The resort’s owners voluntarily closed the operation and disinfected the park before opening again.
MIKE O’ROURKE may be reached at 855-5860 or mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com. He may be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MikeORourkenews.
Comments (3)
Add commentWell, that stinks...
Talk about a crappy situation.
The Lodge
Wow. We were the lucky ones who happened to stay at this hotel Sunday and Monday night. Their check-in system is the worst I've ever seen in my life. I should've known something was wrong the minute we stepped through their doors. Never have I checked in after check-in time because they didn't have rooms ready.
They told us on Monday they closed down the pool because the electricity in the water park was broken. What liars! They reimbursed us for Monday night so we stayed for free and went to the water park across the street that next day (Tuesday). They could have been honest and said what really happened. Even a phone call at home letting us know what to look for would've been the honest and decent thing to do if they didn't know on Monday what the name of the disease was. WORST MANAGEMENT EVER. UNACCEPTABLE. Never will I stay at this hotel again. Ridiculous. They will be getting a phone call from me about this.
Beyond disgusted with The Lodge
We too arrived at the Lodge Sunday for a two day stay cut short when the water park was shut down. My son had asked to get out of the pool Monday afternoon as he was starting to develop a rash. We decided to go to dinner and see how he was later before we determined if he would be going back in the water later that night. The decision was made easy for us when we returned and the pool was closed. My frustration began after one of the young girls commented the pool had been closed by the Department of Health for problems going back a couple of weeks. I asked for further details and expressed a concern my son had just started to develop a rash and wanted to know if it could be related. She stopped talking and said I would need to speak with a manager. I explained the same story to the hotel manager on duty. She looked me straight in the face and lied by conveying it was a maintenace issue and not a health risk to our children.
Still skeptical, we called the Department of Health on our way back home knowing the reason they really closed the pool was likely part of the public domain. When we discovered the truth we were beyond disgusted that the hotel was so deceptive and outright lied. We do consider cryptoporidiosis a big health concern for our children and cannot believe they tried to pull it off as a maintenance problem. Thank you Mike O'Rouke for taking our call and sharing the truth.
We feel The Lodge put our children's health at risk and will never go back.