Possible norovirus outbreak strikes Sacramento care facilities | News

SACRAMENTO, CA - Two Sacramento-area assisted living facilities have been dealing with a potential norovirus outbreak among their elderly residents.

Norovirus is a gastrointestinal virus that can strike the elderly and young especially hard. Symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. Patients can be come dehydrated.

Norovirus is very contagious, often spread through food or water contaminated by fecal matter during preparation, according to the Mayo Clinic.  

Twenty people at Carlton Plaza Sacramento and 14 people at Crown Plaza Sacramento, both on Fulton Avenue, have been experiencing illness symptomatic of norovirus, according to Laura McCasland with the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services. Laboratory test results have not yet come back to confirm the illness.

No one has died. One patient was taken to the ER for evaluation, McCasland said.

Both facilities have increased housekeeping, limited activities and visits, and were discouraging communal dining, McCasland said.