Test Confirms Norovirus Caused Closure of Walker Creek Ranch Last Week

All it took was one kid with a contagious stomach bug to cause the evacuation of a West Marin residential science camp last week.

The Marin County government’s Division of Public Health concluded Monday that a the fast-moving sickness that caused the evacuation of Walker Creek Ranch last week was a norovirus that was “likely spread directly between children rather than through contaminated food or water,” according to a letter sent to parents of kids directly affected.

Fifth- and sixth graders from three Bay Area schools — including 58 kids from in Novato — were at Walker Creek when kids started vomiting and having diarrhea on the night of Feb. 1. The next day, the stomach bug spread quickly through dozens of kids, camp staff members and teachers, sparking the start of camp closure later that night. Everybody was out of the camp by about 11 a.m. Feb. 3.

No one who came down with the illness was in serious condition, health officials said last week. Kids at San Ramon were kept at home Friday along with more than 20 siblings who were deemed at risk for exposure to the norovirus.

In a letter co-written by Dr. Anju Goel, Marin’s deputy public health officer, and Mary Jane Burke, Marin County’s superintendent of public schools, the two said lab testing of stool samples confirmed the presence of norovirus, one of the most common gastrointestinal infections in the United States. Goel and her staff believed that was the cause last week when water and food tests came up normal at Walker Creek.

“We send our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to all who have become ill,” Goel and Burke wrote.

See the attached letter for the complete report.