Editorials: Norovirus info quickly goes viral

This week at Rider what spread even faster than the norovirus itself was the plentiful information that students and faculty campus-wide received regarding it.

Since Wednesday night, when symptoms of the very contagious norovirus were first made known and visible to us at Rider, up until all day Thursday; we have been receiving information through various emails, rider alerts and especially word of mouth. In a time like this, the most important thing is that everyone is made aware of the symptoms, probable causes and preventions in order to ensure the safety of the whole campus. Rider has already done a great job with this and in a very swift and timely matter.

The emails sent to the student body mentioned the lifespan of the virus as one to two days, once it has been caught. However, the norovirus, being as infectious as it is, stays with you and is still quite contagious up until three days after. Having said that, the fact that classes were still in session during this epidemic seems a little trivial and more risky to the health of students. Compared to the well being of the campus and ensuring that no one else needs to be hospitalized with the illness, classes weren’t nearly as important. This should have been recognized by the administration and our health should have been put first in this situation.

While the campus forges ahead in taking precautions with the norovirus and assuring the cleanliness of campus facilities, it is important that the administration continues to keep the Rider community aware of any further updates.

This weekly editorial expresses the majority opinion of The Rider News. This week’s editorial was written by the Opinion Editor, Kristy Grinere.