UPDATE, DEC. 10, 10:35 A.M.: The source of Chapman University's norovirus outbreak was likely the cafeteria, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. Many of the about 50 people who showed symptoms had eaten in the facility, and since the virus spread so quickly “the cafeteria clearly appears to have been the source of the norovirus,” HCA spokeswoman Deanne Thompson told City News Service. She added norovirus is “very common” and praised Chapman for being “very aggressive and proactive in addressing the concern.” Chapman's dining staff workers have been trained by the HCA “on how to work safely and protect students from the virus in the disinfected facility, and the dining commons,” the university says in a statement. The cafeteria was closed and disinfected over the weekend, re-opened for breakfast on Monday and has been open since on its regular schedule, the university notes.
ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 9, 12:04 P.M.: Chapman University in Orange is dealing with a suspected outbreak of norovirus, according to officials. The school has had an advisory about the “small outbreak” up on its website since Monday.
The outbreak of gastrointestinal illness appeared to begin last Wednesday, Dec. 2, with some students reporting symptoms. The origin of the virus is unknown at the present time, and investigations into its origin continue. Currently about 50 students have reported symptoms. The Health Department investigated the outbreak and has determined that the cause of the illnesses is most likely norovirus, which can be foodborne or passed along by human touch. Because several students reporting symptoms live off-campus and do not use University dining facilities, it is believed at this time that the virus was not foodborne. At the present time only one student has been confirmed by medical tests to have norovirus.
Symptoms of the virus include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration.
To be fair, I recall being bedridden a week with similar “symptoms” following a particularly event-filled spring break.
“I got that once from a water fountain at Magic Mountain,” informs a different former co-ed of norovirus. “These folks will be losing their Freshman 15.”
Surfaces on campus are being disinfected and awareness is being raised among students to fight the spread, the university says. The residence hall dining commons were scrubbed down over the weekend, and a county health inspector signed off on the cleaning, officials add.
Meanwhile, hand sanitizer is being passed out like Adderall during finals week (not that the university would ever condone the latter, of course).
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.