HOLLAND TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – A common side effect of winter weather has hit West Michigan.
Yesterday’s announcement by Davenport University that it is closing its main campus near Caledonia through next Monday was due to about a hundred students coming down with symptoms consistent with norovirus, according to the Kent County Health Department. While she couldn’t give any exact numbers, epidemiologist Marcia Mansaray of the Ottawa County Department of Public Health says that the “stomach bug” is circulating in her jurisdiction and increasing, partly because of the lack of “social distancing” that comes because of the cold weather. “When we’re congregated together, especially indoors in places when we’re touching the same surfaces, and exposed to each other more closely, these things get passed much more easily, and it spreads to bigger groups of people,” Mansaray explained.
Good hygene and cleanliness are the best ways to prevent the spread of norovirus, with those afflicted asked to stay home for at least 24 hours and drink plenty of fluids to help flush the illness out of their system. A link to the Centers for Disease Control’s tips on norovirus is here.
