SOLANA BEACHSOLANA BEACH — Solana Beach School District officials notified parents that public health officials in San Diego County believe that norovirus is likely causing a rise in absences at Solana Vista Elementary School.
“We have noticed an increase in absences due to gastrointestinal complaints among our students,” wrote Joel Tapia, principal of Solana Vista, and Renee Woodworth, the school district’s nurse.
They wrote that the San Diego County Department of Public Health and Human Services has advised the school district that norovirus is likely causing the illness. They did not say how many absences have been reported.
Neither Solana Beach Superintendent Terry Decker nor Craig Sturak, a spokesman with the county’s public health agency , were available for comment.
Symptoms of norovirus include a sudden onset of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Some students have had a low-grade fever. The symptoms of norvirus usually begin about 12- to 36-hours after exposure to the virus.
“We need your help to stop the further spread of illness in our community,” wrote Tapia and Woodworth in the letter.
Solana Beach School District, which has seven elementary schools, serves 3,000 students in grades pre-kindergarten through sixth, and serves the communities of Solana Beach, Carmel Valley, Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe.
This isn’t the first case of norovirus reported locally.
In August, norovirus was confirmed as the cause of an outbreak that infected up to 60 diners at the Bali Hai Restaurant.
And in April, more than 100 engers and crew suffered norovirus illness during a two-week cruise from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego.
with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the Celebrity Infinity when it docked in downtown San Diego to conduct an outbreak investigation aboard the 965-foot 11-deck cruise liner.
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