Working security at the Winter Olympics can be the shits

Just days before the opening of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, 41 security guards who were assigned to protect an Olympic venue in Pyeongchang have fallen ill, due to a norovirus outbreak. In an effort to quell the norovirus from spreading, an additional 1,200 security guards have been quarantined.

At an event like the Olympic Games, norovirus can be particularly virulent. A norovirus can be spread in a number of ways: touching surfaces that have the virus on it and then touching your eyes or mouth, eating food made by someone who's already sick with the virus or otherwise coming into contact with an infected individual's bodily fluids. With the opening of the Olympic Games being just a few days away, officials are doing what they can to sterilize the vehicles and facilities that the afflicted guards may have come into contact with. In order to deal with the sudden unavailability of the 1,200 security personnel, the Korean government has deployed 900 soldiers to ensure that the Games' visitors and athletes will remain safe.

If you've never had the pleasure, there's nothing like a norovirus cleanse. Where all juice diets and enemas fail, a bout of norovirus will quickly clean you out, through surprisingly violent diarrhea and vomiting. Speaking from personal experience (Norwalk virus damn near killed me,) the illness can be so bad, in some cases, that those who come down with it need to be hospitalized for re-hydration therapy. That said, if you're lucky enough to survive it, however, those jeans that are two sizes too small for you that you have stashed at the back of your closet will finally fit.

Image: DAVID HOLT - originally posted to Flickr as Interesting London 2012 Olympic Facts, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link