The Willamette presenters recommended the following issues for similar communities to consider before they’re hit by norovirus:
• When to activate an emergency plan.
• How to collect data.
• With whom to share the data.
• What role state agencies will play.
• Whether staff has to use paid time off if they get sick from their work.
• What your business insurance will cover.
• How to clean infected rooms.
• How to communicate with state agencies and the news media.
• Whether to use the "Q word" (quarantine).
The presenters also listed the following measures that they would do differently:
• Broadcast a closed-circuit television program of physical exercises.
• Ask health department experts to visit and make recommendations tailored to the community’s circumstances.
• Allow visitors to go to residents’ rooms while wearing gowns, masks, and gloves, which they would discard after each visit.
And audience members who have experienced norovirus outbreaks offered the following additional suggestions:
• Keep a box of supplies on hand for such an emergency.
• Put magnets on the doors of sick residents so that staff can tell which is which.
• Create a system of phone friends to help break the isolation.
Whatever else they do, staff members should be prepared for a longer haul than they expect, said Ms. Schoenthal. "We just kept thinking it would end tomorrow."