My children attend a private school which is next door to the public school. last Thurs. and fri. the public school closed because of what they think was a norovirus outbreak. it would come on really fast and some kids were getting sick on the stage during the holiday concert. due to various activities (some out of town)we had during the past week my children didn’t play with any of the public school children and so i thought that we’d be spared. the news channel showed our school’s kids playing outside and indicated that there was no virus there. the public school reopened yesterday. my kindergartener started vomiting around mid afternoon yesterday and stopped a few hours later. I was convinced it was the virus from the school next door. when my other children came home they told of lots of kids sick and having to go home. one of my children said that 7children were absent in her class. this morning i called the school nurse (we have different ones different days). i don’t know if this one was the nurse we get from the district. she said that there was no problem with kids having to go home yesterday throwing up the only thing she thought was going around was colds and sore throats. this certainly didn’t comport with my intuition. Today my children came home telling of kids and teachers throwing up in school. My own daughter’s teacher vomited at her desk! Well, I was very glad that the public school closed as soon as they saw a problem. they said that they were disinfecting the school and this week the absences were down.
When my kids came home i was wondering out loud how this cross-contamination happened since most parents were trying to keep sick kids from well ones. then my daughter said that at school she heard that the buses weren’t sanitized! i checked the school district website and they didn’t mention anything about sanitizing the buses. now, i do not have it confirmed that the buses weren’t decontaminated, but it certainly highlights one of those “cracks” through which things can fall. This can spread infection to kindergarteners, middle schoolers and high schooler. Also, in our area bus service is provided to local private schools so it made sense that we would be hit next. Anyway, the silver lining is that, hopefully, the transportation company will learn from this!
Another Problem to add to the growing list…Is anyone listening????
I also live in a town where this happened last week. Almost 300 kids and 19 teachers were sick in two days. There was absolutely no warning, all of the sudden 190 kids called in sick or went home early on day one. That was 26 percent of the school out sick over the two days and they did not close. They cleaned the school overnight, but I share the concern about the buses and now it is in the other schools as well. We are also having an unusual number of viral infections…pediatrician suggested it may be because of the unusually warm weather we are having. I guess the cold snaps kill off many viruses? Pneumonia, strep throat and conjunctivitis (pink eye) are here in huge numbers.
anon mom, do you live in Mass?
We had norovirus big time here in the Sacramento Valley area. Nursing homes badly hit. Old people died. Germs are like that, you know…They love schools & hospitals. And busy stores at Christmastime. And crowded offices. Every member of my office staff has had the same cold this month. I am the last to get it, just in tome to spread it to my loved ones on Christmas so that they can take it to THEIR offices. And folks think H5N1 is going to behave differently? PLEASE!
I am in MN, and we had a terrible out break of it here!!! My mother spent 4 days in the hospital, passing a ton of blood, and it took her over 2 weeks before she had a normal stool. I think she was sick for 3 weeks total!!! Only my son, 8, got it in my family ( I home school), but our friends family had 3 of their members come down with it, and their 3 year old ended up in the hospital with dehydration!!! It has been a very scary month!!!! We were told by a friend that works at the hospital that no matter of sanitzing was working!!! Not bleach, not gels….NOTHING!!!! Every nurse in the hospital came down with it!!! How can it be everywhere….at the same time?!!
Yadayah,
Norovirus or influenza in MN? What area?
Birdie Kate, Yes, I live in MA. Norovirus hit my family just in time (6:00am) for Christmas morning. In addition to the norovirus going around, I’m now seeing lots of moms going down hard with a sore throat/flu type thing with a nasty cough. When I say “down” I mean they are flat on their backs in bed unable to do anything. It is nearly impossible to get in to see a doctor right now…zero surge capacity…and I fear that H5N1 will slide right in (if it hasn’t already) and will go unnoticed in this elevated level of medical chaos!
laura in pa — 19 December 2006, 19:01 Laura, your shcool is in my town so we are neighbors so to speak. Will keep our anonymity of course, but it is good to know that there is at least one more prepper in the town. BTW, I handed out pandemic flyers at the firehouse on election day. Hope all is well now at your house. If you ever want to email me and compare notes I can be reached at avianflu1 at verizon.net
Mods please change my email to at verizon.net so it will not be picked up by spammers. Thanks NJ Jeeper
(This is really Brooks, but didn’t want to bump NJ Jeeper’s request…)
What I remember learning about noro is that you are still contagious for a couple days after feeling well. If so, then unless folks are required to stay away from school or work for a period of time there is no catching up. This is why it can ransack a place like a nursing home. My mom’s nursing home really had no idea how to control it because they treated noro like every other infection. They’re different.
NJ Jeeper, done
According the health alert from my state, Noro continues to shed for two weeks after you are “well”. It has a rapid incubation rate of 12 to 96 hours, averaging 24 to 48 hours. When I asked our expert at work, the word was two weeks shedding, but come to work and “wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.” It’s not airborn, it’s touch and touching your face. Don’t forget, Wash Your Hands!