The city of Minneapolis has a public health campaign that will change the way you look at a bowl of chips on game day.
Minneapolis welcomes the Big Ten Women's and Men's basketball tournaments to town next month.
What Minneapolis would not welcome is a norovirus outbreak.
Norovirus is the leading cause of food borne illness in the United States and you do not want any part of it. The highly contagious virus causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps — and sufferers can still spread the disease for days after their own symptoms end.
So Minneapolis reminds you to wash your Big Ten fingers before you dive into a communal bowl of chips at a tournament party. To drive home that warning, Minneapolis Environmental Health is sharing a graphic norovirus warning logo.
We've seen stick figures in peril on warning signs before. Swimming with sharks, falling down open manholes, slipping on wet floors. But few stick figures look more miserable than a stick figure with norovirus; doubled over, spewing out of both ends at once.
Don't be like the guy on the warning sign. Wash your hands before preparing food, sharing food or high-fiving the fan next to you at the tournament.
The women play March 6 through 10. The men March 13–17.