Norovirus Shuts Down Mohonk Mountain House Resort

Hundreds of people had their idyllic weekend vacations ruined this week when a norovirus outbreak sickened hundreds of guests and employees at the Mohonk Mountain House, forcing the historic resort to close down for extensive cleaning.

According to ABC, the illness first started affecting guests and employees at the resort last Friday. Norovirus is a common and highly contagious food-borne illness with a host of extremely unpleasant symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea. When the first complaints started coming in, the resort attempted to clean and contain the problem by itself, but as of Friday it hired an outside firm to come in and do a thorough cleaning. The hotel closed Friday at check-out time and is expected to reopen on Friday, February 14, so most customers' Valentine's Day plans will still be able to proceed.

"They are touching every inch and they are sanitizing," a Mohonk Mountain House spokesperson said to CBS. "It could have started anywhere. It could have come from anywhere, and it could be from anywhere. This could happen anywhere.