Back around 2002, when my lab and responsibilities were growing exponentially, the hardest thing to teach any new student was this: check your e-mail.

Every 5 minutes.

(It would have been every minute, but the IT nerds at the university said no one needs that, it can wait. Which is why they’re on university timelines.)

We were on-call for grocery stores, ran the national food safety hotline, and whether I was golfing or hanging with the kids, I was always accessible.

I hate text.

I hate Facebook.

Hate is a strong word, but apt in this situation.

Chapman says now, there’s a whole generation that missed e-mail.

But since I had it from the late 1980s, it was always crucial.

And still is.

Radio-Canada reports that an email miscommunication led to an outbreak of norovirus that affected more than 100 people at a long-term care facility in Rouyn-Noranda in early August.

Patients and staff at the home were served peach and raspberry compote on Aug. 2 and 4.

A few hours later, 26 people showed symptoms of gastroenteritis.

Over the next 10 days, between Aug. 4 and 14, 61 patients and 48 employees at the facility fell ill.

The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region had been notified that the raspberries were subject to a recall because they were suspected of being contaminated with norovirus.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency emailed the facility about the recall on July 20, according to access to information requests obtained by Radio-Canada.

But that email was only sent to one person and that person didn’t relay the information to the kitchen staff.

The facility wouldn’t say why the message didn’t get to the kitchen.

The interim head of IT services for the facility, Stéphane Lachapelle, says more people have been added to its mailing list.