A norovirus-like illness recently infected more than 75 delegates attending NASH 74, the Canadian University Press’ national student journalism conference, at the Harbour Towers Hotel and Suites.
“It’s highly likely that a student brought it in,” says Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) spokesperson Shannon Marshall. “There were no reports of illness from the hotel staff [before the conference], and our health protection officers have ruled out food poisoning.”
Norovirus symptoms include nausea, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting, and diarrhea. It spreads very quickly and easily. The virus can survive on surfaces, and touching any contaminated surface and then touching your mouth can spread it. Exposure to those who have vomited due to the virus can also contaminate others.
The trouble started as journalist Chris Jones, a writer for Esquire, gave the final keynote speech on Saturday evening. He noticed delegates getting up to leave while he was still speaking. The severity of the situation didn’t become apparent to Jones until around 11 that night, when he fell ill.
“It was just the most calamitous vomiting of my life, and there was just no holding it back,” he says. “I was puking out of my eyeballs; I was screaming at the toilet. I gotta tell ya, I have never puked like that—and I went to college.”
Delegates left Jones’ keynote to bus to the gala event at the University of Victoria’s Vertigo nightclub. On one of the buses, delegate Brennan Bova, from the Fulcrum in Ottawa, had someone vomit on his head. Twitter exploded with reports of illness from dozens of delegates. Conference organizers cancelled the gala event.
Management at the Harbour Towers and BC Ambulance Service notified VIHA that conference delegates were getting sick. People were vomiting in elevators and on stairwells.
Conference co-coordinator Kristi Sipes understands how the virus could have spread so easily before people became aware of what was happening.
“In the midst of the crisis, you can touch things and not know,” she says.
There’s no treatment for norovirus. According to Marshall, most people will recover within two to three days after becoming ill. But they will continue to be contagious for up to 48 hours after their last symptom.
By Tuesday afternoon all delegates and volunteers for NASH had checked out of the hotel. Many had waited days to leave, with WestJet and Air Canada actively discouraging any potential passengers with flu-like symptoms from boarding their planes, but also providing flight re-bookings to some delegates with no added fees. At least one delegate was turned away at the airport and returned to the hotel.
More than 75 delegates, 15 hotel staff, and two speakers became ill throughout the ordeal. More have fallen ill since their return home.
Sarah Petz, a delegate from the Manitoban, got sick after returning home, but she still says the conference was great.
“It was definitely an amazing conference,” she says. “Anyone that goes to the conferences will tell you that they’re so valuable for your progression as a journalist.”
She laughs, adding, “I was kind of joking to one of my friends that the puking now was totally worth the conference before.”