Students at Arcata High School are being advised that a youth from there was flown to UCSF yesterday and put on life support with what was eventually diagnosed as acute viral encephalitis which is a brain inflammation often caused by a viral infection. Mostly encephalitis is not contagious but the viruses that cause some forms of it can be.

According to students, they were being told that there was minimal chance the disease will spread. According to a parent of a student, she received an automated phone call advising her of the situation, saying it wasn’t related to the coronavirus, and offering counseling to students upset about their friend’s life threatening illness.

Humboldt State University sent out the following notification to their students.

Humboldt State University is closely monitoring a tragic situation at Arcata High School in which a student became very ill in recent days. The student has been flown to San Francisco for urgent treatment, and we are keeping him and his family in our thoughts. Humboldt County Public Health has indicated that there is no need for prophylaxis – for action to prevent the disease – by Arcata High students or others. This indicates that the sickness is not highly contagious. There have not been reports of other similar cases at the school. HSU has a number of student-teachers assigned to Arcata High School. The University is reaching out to those students and their instructors to keep them updated on the latest information.

When reached by email just before 4 p.m., a spokesperson for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services told us that there had not yet been a diagnosis.

UPDATE: https://kymkemp.com/2020/03/09/arcata-high-athlete-diagnosed-with/