Norovirus outbreaks: Using agent-based modeling to evaluate school policies

Norovirus is a highly contagious gastrointestinal illness that causes the rapid onset of vomiting, diarrhea and fever. The virus relies on fecal-oral transmission making children particularly susceptible because of their increased incidence of hand-to-mouth contact. Side effects from the virus' symptoms can be problematic for children, i.e. severe dehydration. This paper examines transmission of the virus among elementary school classrooms, evaluating policies to reduce the number of children who become infected. The model focuses on the daily activities that allow for students' exposure to the virus including classroom activities and lunch/recess. Two policies that limit the amount of student-student interaction and were derived from guidelines published by the Center for Disease Control were explored. The results demonstrated that implementation of either policy helps reduce the number of students who become ill and that the sooner the policy is implemented the shorter the duration of the outbreak.