As we previously reported, the norovirus is spreading quickly among security guards at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Determined not to let the Olympics spiral into a widespread gastrointestinal nightmare, organizers of the Games seemed intent on carrying out a scorched-earth assault on every last germ in a 40-mile radius.
According to the New York Times, by Thursday night, 42 more cases of norovirus were confirmed around the sites of the 2018 Winter Olympics, bringing the official tally of cases this week to 128. A mere 24 hours before the opening ceremony of the Games, the outbreak has threatened to undermine an otherwise watertight start to the global sports event.
Competitors, Olympic staff members, and journalists claimed not to be panicking, but the quietly growing sense of wariness in Pyeongchang was palpable. Sneezes provoked sideways looks. Fist bumps replaced handshakes. People washed their hands over and over and over again. “We’ve got every germ killing thing that you can have, just in case, and we’ve got masks if it gets bad enough,” said Mitchell Whitmore, an American speed skater at his third Olympics.
But the norovirus is easily spread and difficult to contain.
The norovirus is an infection which causes the sudden and severe onset of diarrhea and vomiting; symptoms which begin within 12-48 of exposure and can be painful. The virus is highly contagious and commonly spread through food or water that is contaminated during preparation or contaminated surfaces. You can also be infected through close contact with an infected person. Most people will cover without treatment in three days, however, hospitalization can occur if victims are infants or elderly.
Organizers said this viral infection is particularly bad. Of the 1,200 guards removed from duty, 41 had suffered a sudden onset of vomiting and diarrhea on Sunday and all had been taken to a hospital. The outbreak comes just days before the opening of South Korea’s 2018 Winter Olympics on Thursday.-SHTFPlan
At a news conference on Wednesday night, Dr. Park Kisoo, a spokesman for the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tried to temper the growing sense of worry. “You don’t need to go running out of the room if somebody sneezes,” Park said. Park preached the importance of proactive personal hygiene. So along with wool caps and long underwear, bottles of hand sanitizer in varying shapes and sizes have become this year’s hottest Olympic accessory. Plus, those measures are proving to be ineffective in the prevention of the spread of the norovirus anyway.
Since the virus is found in the vomit and feces of an infected person, it makes sense that protecting oneself from a sneeze won’t help much.
Nice, projectile vomiting and the drizzeling shitz. Excellent way to enjoy your day off.
Food service, no sick employee works, don’t eat at the buffet.
Okay, last line of the article, “Since the virus is found in the vomit and feces of an infected person, it makes sense that protecting oneself from a sneeze won’t help much.” I just gotta ask it…. What the hell are they eating over there then? Or just where the hell are they barfing and taking a ‘s*it-down’ at? C’mon Olympians!!! Just stay clear of the locals completely. Eat what you can have shipped in. Do your sports things and get the hell out of SK.
Sanitation issues
A recent study found that if you go to a typical grocery store in the USA and spend forty minutes shopping there, the probability that you will get other people’s fecal matter on you is one hundred percent. (100%.)
In other words, you can’t shop in an ordinary grocery store without getting other people’s poop on you. And the people there are not unusually dirty.
At the germ level, all humans are filthy dirty all of the time. Even if you take a shower every day, and use soap, etc., you are still covered in viruses and germs. In a grocery store, the checkout clerks handle money all day long, and they are many times worse.
This is sickening.
The shit is hitting the fan.
Don’t go. If you must go, don’t use public toilets. If you must use public toilets, don’t “GO”.
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Oh such sage advice! You must be an MD?
I wish them well and hope no problems.
Seems security guards at every gate inspecting ,touching ,your stuff would the maximum transmition device?
That’s right. You understand.
If they can’t keep the security guards from getting sick, how are they going to keep all the public from getting the viruses when the games get underway? Fortunately, in the US we have the CDC to help keep us safe! (Actually, there are many good people there despite the scandals.)
Kimchi will cure em……..
Kimchi will kill just about anything except the eater!
Bio weapons gotta be the hardest to prove their use. Good luck with that one.
Did the PC anti-American shit-hole DEMS make the USA participants remove all flags and USA logos from the uniforms? Require the Olympic committee to skip the National Anthem? I suppose having the explosive shits is good news to all that didn’t want to be ass raped
Maybe a smart Olympics organizer will get out the silver medals, dangle them in some distilled water, hook up some batteries and make lotsa colloidal & ionic silver. Spread THAT around; use it to clean up the contaminated surfaces in restrooms and door knobs etc. If the Norks wanted to really stop this in its tracks, they’d silver-plate all the door knobs and bathroom faucet handles. Silver WILL kill off the norovirus.
If you’re there and reading this, and cannot find colloidal silver in your local Olympics store, buy a 9V battery and ANYthing made from pure, real silver and some distilled water. Make yourself a batch of ionic silver (which contains colloidal silver within). Carry it with you everywhere and clean up everything before you touch it to your face.
The olympics. What a huge waste of money. Build buildings to use one time then it just sits there. We need a giant culling.
This might be the first olympics that there is more activity in the viewer stands than on the playing fields. Fans running to the restrooms, fights to get into the restrooms. The cameramen won’t know which direction to film. B from CA is right about SHTF. The “F” isn’t the kind of fan we normally think of in SHTF, but “S” is “S”. Should be interesting to watch on television.
Why does Norovirus spread so fast on ships…Contained populations that get it ( fail to wash their hands adequately)then touch door handles, light switches , buffet utensils, food menus, hand rails, escalator rails, handicapped door buttons, elevator door buttons, CELL PHONES!!!!!!, the arms on chairs, customer service counters, and any self help food bar surface that is not frequently wiped down with a bleach sanitizing solution, drinking fountains, re-useable water bottles and literally any surface in a bathroom. Housekeeping personnel take short cuts and smear the virus all over the place too. never mind kids running around playing with everything, playing on carpets and all too often have helicopter parents who utterly FAIL to teach them discipline and any reasonable sanitation (kids put EVERYTHING in their mouths and virtually never wash their hands before eating.)
You can’t stop norovirus spread, but if you practice sensible sanitation practices and use a bit of bleach in your dish washing waters and mop water and carpet cleaning water…..you easily kill it. Noroviruses are generally pretty hardy, so exposure to air and sunlight doesn’t kill them without prolonged exposure more than 24 hours. but it replicates extremely fast when it find a temperate moist high traffic breeding area. KNOW what you are dealing with, is the first means to keep yourself healthy. All the same precautions and sanitizing for norovirus, also work for the hemorrhagic fever viruses. the hottest soapy bleach water for mopping, general cleaning, wiping down of the most common high traffic areas that hands touch, laundry, segregating dirty linens and dishes from clean ones, and garbage disposal. Its not rocket science, its basic and consistent sanitation practices. Obviously you are likely to get it if you are directly exposed by being directly sprayed by projectile vomit or infected feces. But if you have to clean up those messes, it is also a wise practice to use basic latex gloves and mask, double bag all used clean up materials and either burn them if you can, away from a living area (burn barrel) or dispose of them in a medical dumpster for later handling if possible, or at least a dumpster or can where the bags will not be tore open while in your living areas.
Again, its not rocket science. I would say if you can imitate how infected medical waste in hospitals is handled, but lately with all the shortcuts and failure to adhere to infection control policies by most hospital staff due to budgetary constraints, it may be wiser to be more cautious than them.
The NUMBER ONE REASON that these outbreaks are not contained quickly is budgetary constraints and lack of seriousness management officials place on basic sanitation principles, and infected sick staff who work (especially around food stuffs and preparation)who cannot afford to take time off.. they are the SINGLE greatest spreaders of these things…SICK FOOD SERVICE STAFF WHO CANNOT AFFORD TO STAY HOME because of loss of pay, threats of loss of their job because of missed time..
infection control is ALWAYS COMPROMISED because of money impacts first (why schools are breeding grounds of pandemics because in order to get federal dollars, SCHOOL SEATS MUST BE OCCUPIED/ATTENDANCE DRIVEN health concerns BE DAMNED!!!), personal ignorance second, and lax infection control policy enforcement by management and staff laziness thirdly.