Stomach virus at Coast Coliseum isolated, contained

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - The State Health Department is still looking for answers as to what made people sick after attending events at the Mississippi Coast Convention Center.

The center director said steps are being taken to prevent anyone else from becoming ill.

Dozens of people who attended a Mardi Gras ball last weekend have been posting on social media that they fell ill with some sort of stomach virus.

Coliseum Director Matt McDonnell said symptoms led them to believe the guests had suffered from Norovirus.

The Centers for Disease Control calls norovirus “a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea.”

So far the health department has not identified the exact illness but did send inspectors to the coliseum this week.

McDonnell said the problem was limited to a certain area of the convention center that two groups used recently, and they have cleaned that area.

“So we’ve gone in and thoroughly disinfected, sanitized, cleaned, scrubbed, shampooed carpet, everything that we can possibly know to do to make sure that that area is not contaminated,” McDonnell said.

McDonnell also said the Health Department inspected the food operations, which scored an A rating.

The health department doesn’t know how many people became ill, but people who contact the health department are being asked to fill out a form about their illness and what they ate and drank.

The State Board of Health has also investigated.

“We will continue to monitor it, we will continue to clean, continue to sanitize and continue to disinfect any and all areas of our facility.”

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