Intervention Recommendation and Clean-up Guidance

Following is a list of interventions and recommendations to address the outbreak on the SJU/CSB campuses.  Several of these can be implemented immediately; others may require more time for planning and execution.

Please note: Interventions should be implemented on both campuses.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS – HIGH PRIORITY

  1. Campus-wide handwashing campaign: signs, posters, The Record, email messages, alcohol-based hand sanitizers for non-food service venues, etc.
  2. Foodworker follow-up and re-education, including assessing employee illness logs, whether foodworkers have been ill, and if/when they worked while ill.
  3. Develop and implement a plan for responding to public vomiting incidents, including training and education regarding personal protection measures responders so they can protect themselves from becoming ill.

FOODSERVICE:

  1. Exclude ill foodworkers:
    • Foodworkers with symptoms of vomiting and/or diarrhea should not work while ill.
    • Foodworkers who have been ill with vomiting and/or diarrhea should not return to work for 72 hours after their symptoms resolve.
    • Reconsider the policy that foodworkers must have a doctor’s note when calling in sick (or consider suspending this policy during outbreaks).
  2. Handwashing education for foodworkers (when to wash, how often to wash, the proper way to wash).
  3. Remove self-service food items (salad bars, ice cream waffles, beverages, desserts, nuts/pretzels in common bowl in the bar, etc).
    • In the event that self-services such cannot be removed, develop and implement a strategy for replacing self-service utensils every 20-30 minutes.
    • Develop and implement a strategy for sanitizing self-service venues, such as beverage dispensers, during food service hours (e.g. soda and milk dispensers).
  4. Limit bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food items.
    • Use gloves or utensils for handling ready-to-eat food items.
    • If gloves are used, ensure proper training sessions on the proper use of gloves, glove replacement, and handwashing.
  5. Consider installing hand sanitizers at the entrance to food outlets or where installing handsinks is not feasible. 
    • Post appropriate signage to remind and instruct people to wash their hands or use hand sanitizers.
  6. Public areas should be sanitized with a chemical known to be effective against norovirus.  Special attention should be paid to high-hand contact surfaces such as chair arms and backs, salt and pepper shakers, railings.

HOUSEKEEPING:

  1. Cleaning and sanitizing shared bathrooms
    • Use a chemical known to be effective against norovirus.
    • Bathrooms should be cleaned and sanitized frequently throughout the day.
  2. Public areas in dorms and other buildings, classrooms, and computer labs should be cleaned and sanitized frequently, paying special attention to high-hand contact surfaces (sports equipment, door handles/knobs, computer keyboards, telephones, elevator buttons).
  3. Consider suspension of vacuuming until the outbreak is over (especially in public areas where there has been a public vomiting incident).
  4. Student laundry facilities
    • Machines should be disinfected daily (including running sanitizer through a full wash cycle and disinfection of the knobs/buttons or other hand-contact surfaces).

BUSES:

  1. Develop and implement a strategy for cleaning and sanitizing buses after a public vomiting incident.
    • Use a chemical known to be effective against norovirus.
    • Provide training and education for the cleaners so they can protect themselves from becoming ill.
  2. If there has been a public vomiting incident on a bus, consider removing it from service until it can be appropriately cleaned and sanitized.