Dear students, employees and the Humber community,

As many of you are aware, we recently had a period of several days in which more than 200 members of our community, mostly students at the North Campus residence, were ill with norovirus. The health and wellbeing of our campus is always our highest priority, and we are glad to hear that those who were affected are reporting that they are feeling better. 

Humber’s containment efforts were swift and considerable, demonstrating our care for students. We are confident that these actions have been effective in controlling norovirus in the north campus residence, and our campuses overall.

As I said in a message to students last week, our community has demonstrated its strength in pulling together to support one another during a challenging time.  As norovirus circulates broadly in Ontario each winter, it is important that we all continue our efforts to sustain a healthy campus environment. Maintaining good hand hygiene, and, if you have been ill, staying away from campus until you have been symptom free for a full 48 hours helps our community to stay healthy at any time of the year.

I’d like to acknowledge the many people who were involved in our response activities. We maintained close contact with Toronto Public Health officials who have now concluded their investigation, and identified norovirus as the source of the illness. Infectious disease experts have told us that we went above and beyond the usual measures needed to reduce the spread of the virus. We also appreciate the flexibility of our staff and faculty in responding to issues that developed as a result of the situation.

Thank you to the entire Humber community for your support in recent weeks. I’m pleased that we’re now able to resume our regular schedules and to be a part of the many events and activities planned at all Humber campuses this semester.