WAUPACA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Beachgoers are being warned to take caution when swimming at a Waupaca beach, after reports of possible illnesses.
What’s usually a packed beach on a nice summer day, is now empty after signs that say ‘Swim at Your Own Risk’ take over South Park Beach.
Waupaca resident Rosanna Lanting takes her children there for swimming lessons during the week.
“Thursday after swimming lessons, we came home for a couple hours and all of a sudden my kids started feeling nauseous,” said Lanting.
Lanting says she thought it was heat exhaustion, but neither of them had a headache.
“My daughter started dry heaving and throwing up,” said Lanting. “My husband calls me at the same time and tells me my five-year-old is throwing up at the exact same time, and just constantly.”
An investigation lead to an update on Sunday, saying standard sampling was completed, showing all levels, items such as E.coli, all within acceptable limits.
On Friday, Waupaca Parks and Recreation posted on their Facebook page that they were aware of the recent complaints. That’s when they ended up issuing a ‘Swim at Your Own Risk’ advisory.
Due to the advisory, swim lessons at South Park Beach were held outside the water on Monday. Lessons scheduled for later this week will be rescheduled to next month.
“It was pretty high already Friday of the number that I heard of people that I knew personally that had been at lessons that got sick,” said Lanting.
Kajja Wagner is from Neenah. She went to South Park Beach with her two-year-old son this past week to beat the heat.
She says everything was fine with him until Saturday.
“He spiked a 104 fever, and he was down and out miserable for about 24 hours,” said Wagner.
Although, not everyone who went in the water got sick.
“I was swimming in it too, I didn’t get anything,” said Wagner. “My six-year-old son was swimming, he didn’t get anything. It was just our two-year-old.”
In a press release on Monday, city officials said they continue to investigate these complaints. Additional steps of the investigation include testing those who had symptoms for gastrointestinal pathogens.
The county health department is recommending that the advisory stays until at least Thursday, which is when they expect to get more test results back.
Officials say there’s been an increase of algae, but there has never been any blue-green algae reported in Waupaca County.
