Editorial: Pass the hand sanitiser please

A recent outbreak of the norovirus shows that people need to be more prepared to steralize public places.

I admit it - I am a hygiene freak.

I use plenty of instant hand sanitiser each day and always wash my hands before I eat.

I even sometimes do reconnaissance at cafes to see if I can establish what their standards are like and whether they touch food with their hands. There are few things more disgusting than seeing someone handle money - and then touch the food you're about to eat.

OCD? Some would say yes but, for me, it's about making every possible effort to avoid getting sick.

So you can imagine my horror when my daughter and I were evacuated while swimming at the Greerton pools the other day because someone had vomited.

Two pools were closed because they were connected. We used another pool and eventually the contaminated ones were reopened. I didn't have too many concerns because I presume public pools such as Greerton use a healthy dose of chlorine to kill the bugs. I was also impressed with how quickly staff acted.

But the fact is we do put ourselves at risk when we go to public places.

This point was firmly driven home after we reported this week that at least 15 people fell sick after contracting a virus from the children's play area of a Tauranga 10 pin bowling venue.

Read more on the outbreak here.

At least nine pre-school and primary-aged children and six adults had caught norovirus gastroenteritis, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

It is most likely the virus spread through person-to-person contact.

Toi Te Ora - Public Health Service investigated and reported it had given the bowling alley advice on dealing with diarrhoea and vomiting episodes.

This comment concerns me. Every place that caters for the public should know exactly what to do if there is a problem like this. How hard is it to clean surfaces and use chlorine bleach? Sick people should also stay home rather than go to public places.

There are 50,000 norovirus cases in this country each year, although thankfully they usually do not cause severe illness and do not last long. Hopefully, the bowling alley has learned from this episode and other relevant businesses take note.