Kalahari

The California delegation is staying at Kalahari resort in Sandusky. Eleven members have come down with a disease resembling norovirus.

(AP File Photo)

SANDUSKY, Ohio -- Eleven Californians -- who arrived for planning meetings in Cleveland ahead of the Republican National Convention and are now staying at Kalahari resort -- contracted a disease resembling norovirus, Erie County health officials said Tuesday.

The infected individuals were not delegates, but rather a group that planned activities and provided logistical support in Cleveland last week, Erie County Health Commissioner Pete Schade said. Members of the delegation have been asked to take precautions such as frequently washing their hands and separating themselves from large crowds, he said.

The 11 infected individuals first showed signs of illness on Thursday. They had symptoms similar to the norovirus, a fast-spreading disease that causes vomiting and diarrhea and is notorious for spreading in close spaces such as schools and cruise ships.

"They've done everything we've asked them to do" as far as avoiding contact with other people, Schade said.

About 550 delegates, visitors and guests from California are staying at Kalahari, the country's largest water park, 60 miles west of Cleveland. Today the group is split between Cedar Point and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

Health officials have taken fecal samples from the people who got sick and have sent them to a lab in Columbus for analysis, Schade said.

"It looks like the norovirus, but we're not going to say that's definitively what it is," he said.

Officials still aren't certain how they got sick, he added.

A spokeswoman for the California delegation did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Facts about norovirus from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention:

Norovirus causes 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations and 570 to 800 deaths, mostly in young children and the elderly, each year.