It’s a noro-easter.
The norovirus, a hypercontagious stomach bug, is sweeping across the Northeast, causing schools to shutter and citizens to suffer from violent diarrhea and other alarming symptoms.
“It is incredibly contagious,” Dr. Alfred Sacchetti from Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, NJ, told ABC News.
“Just one particle of the norovirus that you ingest will get you sick.”
Recent data from the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention shows that the Northeast — particularly Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York — has the highest positivity rate for the hypervirulent strain.
A staggering 14% of swab tests in the region came back positive for the gastrointestinal ailment at the beginning of February.
That was up from around 12% two weeks earlier and just 4% in November before the epidemic.
“My 2-year-old was dealing with some stomach issues last week; his whole daycare seems to be having issues,” said Cherry Hill, NJ, resident Jacob Joyner, whose household was stricken with the illness.
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