More than 600 students in Utah stayed home from school due to warnings of a Norovirus outbreak on Sept. 6.
Schools in the Alpine School District have since been sending students home if they present with symptoms of vomiting.
There are currently no reports on the number of cases that have occurred because health care providers are not required to report them, said Aislynn Hill, public information officer for the Utah County Health Department.
‘‘Because this illness has spread so quickly, it appears to be highly contagious and may likely enter your school,’' the UCHD stated. “It’s entirely possible that there have been others that we’re just not aware of,” officials said.
The list of schools that the UCHD are concerned about outbreaks continues to grow, local media reported.
Health officials have sent out a letter telling parents to keep the affected students at home for 72 hours after the symptoms have passed.
The siblings of the affected students were also advised to stay at home.
The speed that the norovirus spreads makes the virus highly contagious. People of all ages can get infected and transmit the virus through direct physical contact, touching contaminated surfaces, or consuming contaminated food or water.
A person can get sick from the norovirus multiple times in a lifetime because there are different strains. Having immunity to one strain doesn’t mean that the immunity will carry over to other strains. The length of time the immunity lasts is also not known.
But officials said there was no need for panic. “Persons with norovirus usually recover within two to three days without serious or long-term health effects. Even though the virus is easy to spread, serious illness rarely occurs,” they said.
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