Colorado Schools Close Down Due to Virus Outbreak

A high school in a Colorado school district was closed last week as a precautionary measure in response to what seems like a deadly outbreak of norovirus. A middle school in the adjoining area followed suit after a few days. By November 14, the entire school district that attends to more than 20,000 students had to shut down operations.

Official authorities communicated that operations in more than 40 schools in the Mesa County Valley School District 51 won’t resume operations until after the Thanksgiving break.

Public health teams haven’t yet officially diagnosed what seems to be a norovirus that is characterized by symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea and can last anywhere between 12 hours and a full day.

The virus outbreak that has forced the shutdown of an entire school district has no precedent in the country. Earlier, such incidents impacted the operations at only one school at a time and the last norovirus outbreak was five years ago.

Local authorities felt it necessary to take the drastic measure of shutting down the entire district to prevent the virus from spreading quickly as it is highly contagious.

Mesa county valley is the tenth largest school district in the state and covers regions from the Utah border to Palisade and comprises the Grand Junction area.

About three thousand people work in the district that is home to various elementary, middle, high, charter, K-12 and alternative schools.

One of the high schools was the first to fall victim last Thursday, followed by a middle school on Monday. Wednesday saw the closing down of another couple of middle schools, followed by a charter and then an elementary school.

By this time, more than 5,000 students had already stopped attending classes. However, officials weren’t able to confirm the number of students who had already contracted the virus and those who were still out of danger.

The locality’s residents realized the potential impact and consequences of norovirus and how devastating it could be in the event of an uncontrolled outbreak.

Many of the infected students were caught off guard and didn’t have time enough to make it to the restroom or any other appropriate place and hence couldn’t help throwing up on the floor. The exact spot of the vomit in the open further created a 25 radius zone of contaminated area.

Some schools tried to mitigate the risk by stepping up the cleaning procedures. Schools with a significant number of absentees were subject to rigorous cleaning, bleaching and spraying with disinfectant.

Medical experts cite the decision to close schools by way of precaution as the right thing to do under the circumstances. During the outbreak of such contagious diseases, it is highly recommended that person to person contact be strictly avoided until the situation is brought under control.

Most stomach bugs in the United States are caused by norovirus that spreads through physical contact with contaminated feces or vomit. The only way to prevent the virus from spreading is to completely insulate oneself and one’s surroundings with rigorous cleaning and hygiene measures.