Shaw cafeteria to remain closed this weekend following virus outbreak
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The Shaw Hall cafeteria will remain closed during the weekend as MSU employees continue to clean and disinfect the hall, which is believed to be where a virus that sickened more than 30 MSU students this week originated from.
University spokesman Jason Cody said the Shaw Hall cafeteria will not re-open until Monday at the earliest as workers disinfect the cafeteria from Norovirus, which has caused 32 to 34 students to be hospitalized since Wednesday morning.
Any areas where those sickened might have been, such as dorm rooms, bathrooms and drinking fountains, are being disinfected before the cafeteria is re-opened.
As of Friday afternoon, four MSU students remained hospitalized, Sparrow Hospital spokeswoman Rose Tantraphol said. Two more students were admitted Thursday night and Friday morning with symptoms similar to those caused by the virus.
The students all are expected to be released this evening, Tantraphol said. None of the estimated 30 students were ever in serious condition.
About 30 more students with symptoms similar to those of the Norovirus have been treated at Olin Health Center since Wednesday, Cody said. None of those students were hospitalized.
Whether students treated at Olin Health Center had the virus is unknown because lab samples were not taken from those students, Cody said.
Cody said he doesn’t expect any procedural changes at the campus’ cafeterias because the virus likely was not food-borne.
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former shaw resident
(04/03/09 4:51pm)Report
man, shaw food used to make me sick on a good day.
Former Shaw Resident Part II
(04/03/09 10:36pm)Report
I am sure you made your professor sick everyday as you obviously failed to bother the read the article accurately.
student
(04/04/09 2:44am)Report
Actually, the food served at Shaw is very good considering the amount of people that eat there daily. Also, the way the food stations are step up, if you go to the salad or wraps stations, you will be able to see the kitchen and everything is very good cleaned.
On Wednesday, the day that all the students got sick, I had a salad and I am not sick. So, I think this disease has nothing to do with the food, but somebody got it in Shaw and contaminated the rest.
Go green!
(04/04/09 12:41pm)Report
Actually, the procedures HAVE changed in all the other cafes on campus, despite the fact that they don’t think this virus is food borne – in West Circle, sutdents aren’t allowed to get within 3 feet of the food until it is on their plate, which is seriously inconvenient considering the size of those cafeterias.
Snyphi Student
(04/04/09 1:34pm)Report
I hope the procedures revert back to there old ones as I was in the cafe this morning and out of the 15-20 people that were their 10 of them were in line for cereal.
South Complex Student
(04/04/09 1:50pm)Report
I know South Complex is really cracking down on sanitation. I think they are just really scared something is going to come here. I work in the caf, and we now have to keep changing utensils and serve the food to people. It gets really annoying, but I guess we just have to do what we can to reduce the risk. I know the virus is airborne, and we don’t want it to contaminate the food.
jeff
(04/04/09 2:26pm)Report
its kind of dumb since the virus probably didnt originate from the food. I work at the gallery and i think their cleanliness and food safety standards are better than most fast food places or restaurants