Hotel cleaning up after virus outbreak

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

Cleanup continues in the wake of a norovirus outbreak at the California hotel and at a charter airline that brought passengers from Hawaii to the downtown resort in December.

Environmental Health Supervisor Daniel Maxson, in a report to the Clark County Health District Board Thursday, said the California is in the process of cleaning its chips and coins and on Wednesday used a disinfectant fog in the casino area.

Maxson said the resort's owner, Boyd Gaming Corp., has provided information to the Health District "in an unprecedented manner" to assist the district in its investigation into the outbreak. Boyd's assistance included providing detailed charter flight records dating to Dec. 1, Maxson said.

A charter airline that was visited by health inspectors as part of the incident investigation also has begun using "a hospital-grade disinfectant" to clean the DC-10s that brought the afflicted tourists here and took them home, Maxson said.

To date there have been six confirmed cases of the disease originally known as the Norwalk virus and 1,540 reported cases of norovirus symptoms from the incident.

The incident came to the attention of health officials after more than 100 California hotel guests came down with symptoms on and shortly after Dec. 3.

The symptoms of the illness are similar to stomach flu, with vomiting and diarrhea that last about 24 hours. The illness is in the same class as the viruses that have affected cruise ships and other casinos in recent years.

Clark County Chief Health Officer Dr. Donald Kwalick said after the meeting that while efforts are continuing to prevent future outbreaks, the source of the virus may never be learned.