Guidelines provided for preventing spread of gastrointestinal disease
In a notice disseminated to schools and families on May 23, the Sonoma County Office of Education is warning of a potential increase in Norovirus “among students and staff in the school setting.”
According to Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Steven Herrington, part of SCOE’s mission is to be a communication conduit between schools and families and county departments like the Department of Health. He says that while Sonoma County has been put on alert, that is a lower level of advisory that a warning that is being experienced in other counties. A warning, says Herrington, “means our districts or schools are experiencing an absentee rate at a certain level. We are not yet into the warning stage, just on a beware or alert stage. Yolo County, Sacramento and Santa Clara, those counties are at that elevated stage. (We are) on notice that we should follow our due diligence and monitor absences. Right now it’s just an alert for our county and we don’t want to be a county in the warning stages.”
Herrington says that at present absentee rates aren’t showing the effects of a massive outbreak, but that doesn’t mean it won’t. Should the county be elevated to the warning level, additional hygiene and cleanliness tasks will have to be undertaken by all county schools, including things like daily cleaning of all desks and surfaces.
The health advisory was sent to SCOE by Karen Holbrook, MD, and Deputy Health Officer for Sonoma County. In part, Holbrook’s statement reads, “several Northern California counties, including Sonoma County, are experiencing an increase in gastrointestinal illness among students and staff in the school setting. These illnesses are most likely caused by Noroviruses which are highly contagious. Norovirus commonly spreads through touching surfaces contaminated with the virus, by close contact with someone who is infected, or by eating contaminated food or drinks.
Symptoms may include fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. Symptoms last for 1-3 days. However, after symptoms go away, people are still highly infectious, especially for the first 48 hours.”
Information in the health advisory states that there is no treatment for Norovirus, other that supportive care, and that prevention is the best plan. In addition, afflicted individuals may still be highly contagious for up to 48 hours after symptoms have disappeared.
The steps recommended for controlling the spread of Norovirus include ill individuals staying home for 48 hours past the end of symptoms, regular and vigorous hand washing, especially after bathroom use and before eating and regular cleaning of surfaces with disinfectant. Bleach is recommended. In addition serving meals “family style” aka shared dishes is discouraged.
Herrington says at this point, the advice for parents is simple. “Number one, keep your kid home if they’re sick, that’s the biggest thing. I know that parents tend to rely on the schools for childcare, but parents really should look at the safety, health and well being of their child because it impacts other children.
“Keep the child at home, give notice to the school of the illness and the type of illness. We can beat it by keeping it from spreading,” he said.
The school year is drawing to a close, most Sonoma County schools are done by June 6, but Herrington says the prevalence of summer school doesn’t mean the danger will end then. “Our office doesn’t shut down for the summer so if summer school is in session, these alerts will be in place,” he said. “You want your kids to have an enjoyable summer so staying on top of any illnesses now are what is going to allow that to happen. “
Submitted by Sonoma County Department of Health
