Health officials confirmed Monday that an outbreak of norovirus occurred last week at the Peppermill Resort Casino in Reno.
AdvertisementThe Washoe District Health Department was notified of the illness by guests from California at a wedding party at the Peppermill, department spokeswoman Judy Davis said.

She said about 40 members of the wedding party had norovirus symptoms, but other visitors to the casino who were not associated with the wedding also have reported gastrointestinal symptoms associated with the illness.

“We were notified on June 28, and we still have some people coming in who are experiencing vomiting, diarrhea and nausea, so subsequent to that, we have been interviewing both guests and staff to try and pinpoint the source,” Davis said.

“We might not be able to do that, but we are working with the Peppermill to review cleaning procedures and steps they need to take to stop the spread of this illness,” she said. “The Peppermill has been very cooperative with our investigation.”

People infected with norovirus are contagious from the moment they begin feeling ill until at least three days or sometimes up to two weeks after recovery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Noroviruses cause acute gastroenteritis in humans, according to the CDC.

Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Some people also have low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Symptoms typically last one or two days.

Davis said it would be difficult to determine if the highly contagious virus was spread by a member of the Peppermill’s staff, someone in the wedding party or another visitor to the resort who had the virus and touched a slot machine handle, door handle or other surface.

Each year we see easily preventable outbreaks cause public relations nightmares. This story from the Reno-Gazette Journal illustrates the importance of professional cleaning personnel and management. In many cases these outbreaks would never occur if cleaning staff followed the cleaning methodologies outlined in the scope of service and individual task sheets. What happens is in the absence of close supervision or detail-oriented inspectors cleaners skip over details they know will go unnoticed. Rather than disinfect handles, hand railings, sink fixtures etc they may wipe down any fingerprints and call it a day; these shortcuts cause the spread of norovirus and e-coli.

As a building services contractor I would never suggest that customers manage their cleaning management however if you notice something seems off about your service or your cleaning personnel seems to have free time to make cell-phone calls, joke with co-workers, customers or your employees you should bring this to the attention of your contractor as these are signs that something isn’t getting done. Janitorial services contracts are bid very lean and hours closely managed if you see a cleaner doing nothing or “hanging out” you are not getting what you pay for.

Tags: Cleaning Services Managment, e-coli, norovirus

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