Norovirus Cases Are Rising…Wash Your Hands

Norovirus infections are on the rise this year, with an increased number of cases both at sea and on land. Here’s what to know about Norovirus and how to protect yourself.

About Norovirus

Norovirus is a virus that can cause the following symptoms:

• nausea and vomiting
• diarrhea
• high temperature
• abdominal pain
• aching limbs

This year has been particularly bad for Norovirus. According to the UK Health Security Agency, the number of positive norovirus laboratory reports in England was more than double the 5-season average for the same period. The agency states these increased infections are due to a recently emerged variation (GII.17 genotype).

Norovirus is Not Just a Cruise Problem

While cruises get the bad rap for norovirus infections, they account for only 1% of all cases, according to the CDC. But because of a lot of shared areas on a cruise ship, Norovirus can quickly spread throughout a ship.

Still, this year has been particularly bad. As of May, Seventeen sailings have been reported by the CDC so far this year. That only accounts for sailings where more than 3% of guests and staff have reported illness.

In addition, the CDC list is only for ships sailing to or from the US. Just this week, following a President’s Cruise hosted by the leadership of Celebrity Cruises, the cruise line delayed the embarkation of Celebrity Apex for extensive sanitization purposes. Virgin Voyage’s Resilient Lady had a similar issue earlier this month during its Greek sailings.

Wash Your Hands!

Looking at social media, you can see lots of comments about how they’ll be fine because they will mask up or use hand sanitizer. Unfortunately, that’s not true when it comes to Norovirus.

According to the CDC, standard hand sanitizer isn’t effective against Norovirus. The best way to protect yourself is to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is particularly important after using the restroom and before eating. Hand sanitizer can be used in addition to hand washing, but it should not be relied upon on its own. On a cruise ship, you should wash your hands every time you enter the buffet.

It also helps to avoid high-touch surfaces like door handles, elevator buttons, and handrails whenever possible.

On ships where an outbreak occurs, cruise lines typically increase their cleaning schedules, using disinfectants specifically proven to be effective against Norovirus. (Spoiler alert: those travel-size Lysol wipes you packed? They won’t help here.)

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