Mesa County Public Health Discusses State of Norovirus
Mesa County Public Health came into our radio station to talk about the norovirus that forced all District 51 schools to close.
Jeff Kuhr from Mesa County Public Health told us that public health's duty is to limit the spread of the norovirus and to protect the rest of Mesa County. He says that they usually expect kids to be sick around this time of the year, but this time the sickness just spread and kept spreading.
Jeff says they use the schools to monitor what's going on health-wise in the community as well as calls they receive. He asked this morning on the status of the norovirus if they're tapering off, but Mesa County Public Health is still receiving a good amount of calls.
Mesa County Public Health hoped that the norovirus would taper off by Thanksgiving, but it doesn't seem like it is. Jeff stated that a public health professional's best friend is a three day weekend, so students and adults having time off during the holidays is great to stay away from social gatherings.
According to Jeff, norovirus can live on any surface and can live for a while on surfaces outside of the body. He says to make sure to wash your hands and to keep your hands away from your face.
My coworker had norovirus and described it as the entire inside of his body, chest, stomach, just started heating up and then the vomiting and other symptoms started. He says that there was very little to no warning before it all started.
Jeff stated that the sudden onset of the norovirus was very unusual and made it even more contagious. He also said that since a lot of students couldn't make it to a toilet or trash while vomiting, that's how the virus got so widespread.
Mesa County Public Health stated that bleach and norovirus cleaning solutions are what to use to keep the virus from spreading.