Been feeling under the weather? Nauseous even? The norovirus has swept across the country even impacting students and staff at HHS. This winter the virus has been impacting students.
On February 13, 2025 Hancock school district’s Secondary nurse, Shannon Williams sent out an email to remind our students and families that there has been a number of increase of students and staff getting sick of Influenza A and Gastrointestinal illnesses. Which one of them may include the Norovirus.
“We have had a significant uptick in GI illness as well as with Flu, this flu season has been a particularly rough one,” Williams said.
Recently a lot of students and staff have been getting the norovirus, but what is it? The norovirus is the stomach bug or like stomach flu but however it isn’t related to the influenza they have some similar symptoms but the norovirus is different.
The norovirus causes some inflammation in the stomach and often the symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. The norovirus is an airborne virus (meaning it spreads through air.) According to The CDC (Centers for Disease)
“Norovirus is something that a doctor / pediatrician would have to diagnose, so I would not know for sure if we have confirmed cases, but I can say that we have had students with symptoms of norovirus,” Williams said.
One of the staff members at HHS who were affected with the illness was Mrs. Dawn Allen. She wasn’t sure whether she had the norovirus but showed symptoms of the illness.
“The symptoms I had were throwing up and it was atrocious. I wasn’t sure whether I had the virus,” Allen said. “At some point I felt like I needed to go to the hospital because I felt very dehydrated. I even tried googling when to go to the hospital because of how dehydrated I’ve felt.”
Dehydration is also a sign of either illnesses whether undiagnosed or not. Williams recommends the following precautions whenever students show up with the symptoms of either the Flu or Norovirus.
“To prevent the spread of any illness I always tell students to wash their hands with soap and water frequently, avoiding sharing food, drinks or personal items, most importantly staying at home when feeling unwell.”
