Minneapolis School Closes Due To Widespread Norovirus

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Widespread illness will keep a Minneapolis school closed for the remainder of the week. Minnehaha Academy announced Wednesday the Minnesota Department of Health said symptoms of the spreading illness at the school are indicative of the norovirus.

"As a precaution from further spreading this virus, we are closing the Upper School and the building starting at noon today," school official Rebekah Peterson said in a statement. "We are bringing in an industrial cleaning service to thoroughly clean and sanitize our building."

"We plan to resume our regular hours for school and business on Monday morning. If you do contract this illness, please stay home for at least 24 hours after all symptoms end."

About The Norovirus

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus. Anyone can get infected with norovirus and get sick. Also, you can get norovirus illness many times in your life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One reason for this is that there are many different types of noroviruses. Being infected with one type of norovirus may not protect you against other types.

Norovirus causes inflammation of the stomach or intestines or both. This is called acute gastroenteritis, according to the CDC.

The most common symptoms:

• diarrhea
• throwing up
• nausea
• stomach pain

Other symptoms:

• fever
• headache
• body aches

A person usually develops symptoms 12 to 48 hours after being exposed to norovirus. Most people with norovirus illness get better within 1 to 3 days.

If you have norovirus illness, you can feel extremely ill and throw up or have diarrhea many times a day. This can lead to dehydration, especially in young children, older adults, and people with other illnesses.

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