I was chatting with a couple of guys at a birthday party of one of Sam’s friends this past weekend and relayed that I do food safety stuff. One dude said “I hate this time of year: between the colds, pink eye and norovirus our kids pick up at school we’ll all be sick until Thanksgiving.”

‘Tis the season for school-related infections.

According to AZ Central, the so-called winter vomiting virus is making an appearance in the desert. Over 10%, at least 100 students, of Kyrene de la Colina, a Phoenix (AZ) elementary school called in sick last Thursday – definitely an outbreak.

Kyrene Elementary School District spokeswoman Nancy Dudenhoefer said the absences were reported to the Maricopa County Health Department after more than 10 percent of students who attend the Ahwatukee Foothills school called in sick on Thursday.

The district also sent notices to parents about norovirus symptoms and advised them to keep ill children home from school.

In the Tempe Union High School District, Bruce Kipper, principal of nearby Mountain Pointe High, also notified parents about norovirus symptoms.

Kyrene hired a company that specializes in removing norovirus to clean Colina and its school buses before the Friday morning bell. Colina and all other Kyrene schools were open on Friday.

Maricopa County Health Department spokeswoman Jeanene Fowler said norovirus outbreaks are common in schools. “Norovirus is very common,” Fowler said. The solution is “cleaning and getting kids to stay home if they are sick.” (cleaning and sanitizing, with chlorine-based compounds -ben)