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Washington Co. CYS office closed after 2 workers get scabies

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — The Washington County Office of Children and Youth Services is closed because two workers have scabies.

The fifth floor of Courthouse Square, which is entirely dedicated to CYS, has been shut down temporarily.

Scabies is a skin infection caused by a mite that burrows into the skin and lays eggs and it’s highly contagious.

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Commissioner Nick Sherman said they immediately shut down the floor and moved some workers to another part of the building.

The county brought in a cleaning company to clean and fumigate on Friday and again Sunday.

“The cleanup was not only the fifth floor but every vehicle, the entire Courthouse Square,” Sherman said.

Sherman said so far, they’ve only had those two workers test positive and notified any families who may have been in contact with them.

“When we found out they had it immediately pulled off the cases, any anyone they had contact with we’ve also notified,” Sherman said.

But one Channel 11 viewer reached out with concerns, saying in part she was at CYS on Wednesday and has not been notified. And another caseworker was in her home. She’s upset she had to learn about it from a news story on Facebook.

Commissioners haven’t said if they’ll be notifying more families, but they did tell us no other employees have tested positive.

“Our CYS workers got it somewhere, so naturally it was in someone’s home. We haven’t been able to trace that back nor have we had any more calls saying someone is infected so that’s a silver lining here,” Sherman said.

The county plans to have the CYS office back open on Monday, March 16.