A text message proved effective in alerting thousands of students about last month’s norovirus outbreak at Hope College.
Hope College officials informed the Health Department they had a database that contained all of the students email and text messaging addresses. 3600 students were notified at once.
Students were asked via text message to reply to an email detailing their symptoms and how long they were ill.
The Health Department says in the end about 540 students responded. Officials say the information was crucial for determining a plan of action and slowing the spread of the virus.