Norovirus Surging in the UK

According to the government press release of 3rd March 2022 entitled ‘Norovirus outbreaks increasing in England’ this particularly unpleasant virus is surging in education settings and care homes across the country. Government advice on reducing the spread taken from the press release:

How to reduce the spread of norovirus

1. Stay at home if you are experiencing norovirus symptoms. Do not return to work or send children to school until 48 hours after symptoms have cleared. Also avoid visiting elderly or poorly relatives, particularly if they are in hospital or a care home.

2. Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and warm water. Alcohol hand gels don’t kill norovirus.

3. When an infected person vomits, the droplets contaminate the surrounding surfaces. A bleach-based household cleaner or a combination of bleach and hot water should be used to disinfect potentially contaminated household surfaces and commonly used objects such as toilets, taps, telephones, door handles and kitchen surfaces.

4. If you are ill, avoid cooking and helping prepare meals for others until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped, as norovirus can be spread through food contaminated by the virus when food is handled by symptomatic people or infected individuals.

5. Wash any contaminated clothing or bedding using detergent and at 60°C and, if possible, wear disposable gloves to handle contaminated items.

Norovirus activity has risen as people have begun to mix more – it is possible that unusual or out-of-season increases could be seen in the coming months.

Ref: UK Health Security Agency published 3rd March 2022

The two best things you can do to reduce the spread of this virus is to practice good hand hygiene and sanitise surfaces effectively. With the prevalence of hand sanitiser the first of these should be easy right? Well, sadly not. During the pandemic we were baffled by the focus on alcohol based sanitisers which are so much less effective than the alternatives. Alcohol sanitiser is of no use at all against norovirus. 

Let’s compare  alcohol sanitiser against Serenity foaming hand sanitiser

You would think perhaps  that being so much more effective than alcohol you would pay more? Foam sanitiser gives you double the uses that you would get from gel making it far more cost effective! There is no advantage at all to sticking with alcohol products and if you want to stop the spread of norovirus then now is the time to make the switch. 

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Stay Safe!