The Norovirus outbreak that battered Oberlin earlier this semester is nearly over. Congratulations team, and a special shout-out to everyone who got sick and survived; you’re troopers. But this semester, when I was in the shower and heard someone burst through the door to throw up, when I saw visibly sick students sweating in class and trudging to the dining halls, I couldn’t help but wonder where the school was in the midst of this public health crisis. While Norovirus isn’t as deadly as COVID-19 is, lethality should not be the benchmark for our institution to respond to a viral outbreak. Health and comfort matters too, both for disabled and immunocompromised students/staff and for all of the able-bodied folks, such as myself, who just don’t want to get sick. I’d like to offer some suggestions to the school and student body for how to address Norovirus the next time it visits our fine institution. By targeting epicenters of transmission such as bathrooms, dining halls, and co-ops, and providing a little education, we can make sure that next year’s outbreak is significantly more organized and contained than this year’s was. 

Let’s start with the bathrooms. Some fun facts: people sick with Norovirus can expel billions of viral particles in bathrooms; it can take as few as ten to get someone else sick; and these particles can live for up to two weeks on surfaces — so always sanitize your clothes and devices after being sick. For these reasons, communal bathrooms can be hotspots for transmission. It’s imperative for both the College and students to take steps to make bathrooms cleaner, safer places during the next outbreak. First off, the College can leave cleaning supplies and rags in dorm bathrooms so sick students can clean up after themselves. Custodians shouldn’t have to clean up infected vomit, students should be given the privacy to clean up their own messes, and it would temper transmission if we were sanitizing spaces immediately after use. While we are told to contact Campus Saftey if we do throw up, this could be a way students could help themsleves and others in the moment. Is there a chance of inconsiderate students stealing these supplies for personal use? Yes. But the cost of lost inventory probably wouldn’t hurt the College. Besides, money spent on sanitation should go up during viral outbreaks. Additionally, the school should increase the frequency of bathroom cleanings and, while fairly compensating custodians for higher-risk work, provide personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves. 

Of course, this might not happen. Viruses move quickly; institutions notoriously do not. Luckily, there are things that students can do to make bathrooms safer during outbreaks. We could designate one bathroom on every building or floor for sick people. If you’re throwing up, I’d encourage you to take the initiative — tape a piece of paper to the door, letting people know. Not only will this protect others, but it will give you some much-needed privacy. With those small changes from the college and/or students themselves, we can make our bathrooms significantly safer next time around.

Next are our dining halls. About 70 percent of reported norovirus cases in America can be traced to an infected person preparing or handling food for others. As such, the school should do everything it can to prevent sick students from going to dining halls. During the COVID-19 pandemic, AVI Foodsystems introduced a meal delivery service where quarantined students could text for a meal to be delivered to their rooms. While this program is still in effect, it is underutilized. I’d argue that these services should be ramped up during the next noro outbreak and that meals should be delivered in disposable paper containers to protect the people who wash to-go containers. 

If you are sick, please try to stay out of the dining halls. Either text for a meal to be delivered, or ask your friends to pick up food for you. If you do go to a dining hall, wash your hands well before, and try to pick locations where staff members serve you rather than self-service. 

In this vein, co-ops are particularly vulnerable to norovirus outbreaks due to the sheer number of people handling each other’s food. Resultantly, food safety is imperative during norovirus season. Try hard not to let serving utensils fall in food. Stay out of the kitchen for at least two days after you’ve been sick. We could also bring back a COVID-19 era protocol and have cook shifts serve food as opposed to having everyone serve themselves. 

Additionally, the school should be sending out more information than just a nagging reminder for students to wash their hands. The administration should communicate with professors, encouraging them to relax their attendance policy so that we don’t have classrooms full of shivering, gray students like we did this year. 

In general, the best public health practices come from education. So, here are some quick facts from a student, since the College hasn’t yet spoken on it. Hand sanitizer is usually not effective against Norovirus, so be careful. Although it generally isn’t airborne, masks can be effective because they remind you not to touch your face. Also, weirdly, blood type can affect your susceptibility to norovirus, due to the the presence or absence of the H1 antigen on cells lining the small intestine — people with type B blood are the most resistant, and type O is the most susceptible. Wild, right?

Norovirus is a notoriously nasty bug. There are ways that I think the school mishandled their response to the Norovirus this semester. I would like to see better in the future. But, if that isn’t going to happen, there are grassroots solutions to viral problems that students can engage in to keep ourselves and our communities healthy. Be proactive, stay safe. We got this.