Around 11 Californian Republican Party staff members who arrived in Cleveland early to help organize this week's National Convention have fallen ill with what appears to be norovirus infections.

Health officials have reportedly taken fecal samples from the sick and sent them for testing at a lab in Columbus, Ohio. "It looks like the norovirus, but we're not going to say that's definitively what it is," Erie County Health Commissioner Pete Schade told the local newspaper, the Plain Dealer.

The staffers who have fallen ill are essentially being quarantined at their hotel, the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. That facility is almost 60 miles away from the Cleveland arena where the convention is taking place. They have been instructed to avoid the convention until going 24 hours without symptoms.

So far, no delegates have been infected, but local health authorities are cautioning convention attendees to wash their hands frequently, avoid sharing food, and avoid shaking hands. The resort has set up hand sanitizer stations for guests, however alcohol-based sanitizers are not effective against non-enveloped viruses such as noroviruses.

The notorious gastrointestinal bug, known to lurk on cruise ships, schools, day care centers, and recently in several Chipotle restaurants, causes sudden and explosive bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. The virus is highly contagious and can spread directly or indirectly from a sick person—from shaking hands, touching shared surfaces, or through shared food items. In close, densely packed quarters such as a convention, the germ can spread swiftly. The incubation period is between 12 to 48 hours with an average of about 33 hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It generally passes after a few, grim days, but the bug can cause severe illness in the young and elderly.

The Californian contingent is thought to have brought the virus with them. The first staffer to fall ill showed symptoms on Thursday and passed the infection to her husband.

"We're in touch with the California delegation about this," said Audrey Scagnelli, spokeswoman for the RNC. "They're working with local health officials and are taking all the necessary precautions to contain the virus. We'll continue to monitor the situation and ensure the delegation and staff have everything they need."

The news of their illness and voluntary quarantine follows a dust up about the distant accommodations for the California delegation, which includes 172 delegates, 168 alternates, and 36 staffers, according to The Washington Post. The resort includes indoor and outdoor water parks plus an outdoor adventure park, but again it's about an hour away from the arena.

"We're pretty bitter about that," California GOP Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon told CNN in May. "It sucks to be California, we're like the ugly stepchild. They need us for our cash and our donors, they don't need us for anything else."

The far-flung lodging appears to be ideal for quarantining the staff, however. "They've done everything we've asked them to do" as far as avoiding contact with other people at the convention, Schade added.