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PROVO – The Utah County Health Department is warning parents of students at schools in Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain of a possible norovirus outbreak.
The agency released a letter to parents warning them of an “outbreak of gastrointestinal illness … (that) appears to be highly contagious.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list the symptoms for norovirus as diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pain.
In the letter to parents officials say the virus can be passed by “touching the same surfaces that the ill person has come in contact with and even by breathing in fumes from vomit.”
The department asks parents to leave their children home 72 hours after vomiting and diarrhea have ended. This includes if a child just has an upset stomach.
The Deseret News spoke with assistant to the superintendent for Alpine School District Kimberly Bird on the outbreak. She says based on information she’s received from the health department, four or five cases of the illness have been reported.
Bird says the district will take extra precautions to try and limit the spread of the virus.
“We’ve got really great chemicals that we use in the cleaning of our schools on a regular basis, but we will notify all of our custodians about this particular virus that’s highly contagious,” Bird said.
Health officials say anyone with symptoms should not prepare food for anyone else as the virus can be easily passed from hands to food.