The Creekside ‘Plague’

On Thursday, December 5, 150 students went home from Creekside High School. The reason: norovirus. At least, that’s the common belief. The St. Johns County School District has acknowledged  that there is a stomach virus going around. The virus led to the Creekside Knights basketball game and many other events being canceled. On Friday, December 6,  less than 25% of the student body showed up to school and 20 teachers stayed home, however most of the absences were just students who claimed to be ‘taking precautions.’

Norovirus causes inflammation of the stomach intestines. If you have norovirus you can feel ill and vomit or have diarrhea many times a day. A person usually show symptoms 12 to 48 hours after being exposed to the virus. Most people who have the virus will get better 1 to 3 days later.

Symptoms of norovirus are

• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Stomach pain 

You can get norovirus anytime of the year though most outbreaks in the United States happen between November and December. Although it was feared that the virus would spread throughout the district, the virus seemed to die out over the weekend with no one to spread itself to.

For more information on norovirus click here and for more information on the outbreak at Creekside click here.

Photo Credit: News4Jax