Dining hall suspected in outbreak

A Web-based survey of Gonzaga University students and staff is pointing toward the COG dining hall as a link in the recent outbreak of norovirus.

But there probably wasn’t much the university or its food service contractor could have done to prevent the outbreak, said health officer Dr. Kim Thorburn of the Spokane Regional Health District.

The health district conducted the survey, but has not yet tested the results for statistical significance, Thorburn said.

The agency’s epidemiologists also interviewed a student food worker who went home sick from the COG dining room near the beginning of the outbreak, which peaked Nov. 19.

The health district believes about 125 Gonzaga students were ill during the outbreak. Some sought medical care and some did not.

Food service contractor Sodexho has a policy of questioning food workers when they arrive for work and sending them home when sick, Thorburn said. The food worker at the COG was feeling well when he came to work, but left ill, Thorburn said.

Of 169 people responding to the survey, 67 reported illness with symptoms including nausea and diarrhea. Some of those people were ill before Nov. 19, suggesting a background level of norovirus on campus, said Thorburn.

Forty-three percent of those who were ill ate at the COG frequently. Only about 25 percent of those who weren’t ill ate at the COG frequently.