Is there no need to go to the hospital for norovirus?

I would like to share a frightening experience from this year's Lunar New Year. About five days before the holiday, my brother-in-law sent us fresh oysters from Tongyeong, and my husband and I ate raw oysters with soy sauce three times. Since there was a lot, we couldn't finish it all at once, so we stored the leftovers in the kimchi refrigerator and ate them over three occasions, not knowing it would cause trouble. On the day before the holiday, I felt nauseous and vomited a little... I thought I just had indigestion and brushed it off. Early on New Year’s Day, I was taking care of my family to go to my parents' house, and my husband said he had a stomach ache and diarrhea. Even though he was sick, he didn’t show much fuss. I wasn’t feeling too bad either, so I just ignored it. Things got serious on the day of the holiday, after we went to my parents' house, grilled pork belly with my younger sibling, and had a good time. That night, the youngest suddenly said her stomach was upset, and without even going to the bathroom, she vomited on the bed and the floor. Even though she hadn’t eaten anything, she suddenly vomited several times and collapsed onto the floor. My second daughter also vomited and said she felt dizzy and fainted as if she had lost consciousness. The eldest also said her stomach was upset, and she vomited and complained of stomach pain. Since all the family members had similar symptoms, I realized that I had contracted norovirus from eating the oysters, and I seemed to have transmitted it to the children through my hands. The two older children are college students, and the youngest is a high school student, and I’ve never experienced such vomiting in my life before. When the youngest was vomiting in front of the bathroom door, and my husband, who was also worried, saw his daughter fainting, we realized how serious it was and wondered if we should go to the emergency room. The only ones who ate the oysters were my husband and me. The older child only ate a little. The second and third children, who didn’t eat oysters, were severely affected, and I felt very sorry. I had learned about norovirus while working as a caregiver, and I knew that besides IV fluids at the emergency room, there wasn’t much else to do, so I didn’t go. Instead, I boiled barley tea, kept wiping their mouths even if they vomited, cleaned up after each episode, and told the youngest, who vomited on the bed, that it was fortunate she did it on the floor rather than on the bedding. I told her to vomit whenever she wanted since there was nothing we could do, and placed a trash can beside her. Fortunately, none of them had diarrhea; the eldest vomited in the bathroom, the second only a couple of times, and the youngest had a tough night.

If you are infected with norovirus and experience vomiting and diarrhea, it seems more comfortable for both patients and caregivers to rest at home rather than going to the emergency room. Because not all nurses handle everything when going to the emergency room, it can be difficult for caregivers or patients to go to the bathroom, and cleaning up vomit can be even more challenging. I think it’s better to go to the hospital and receive IV fluids once the symptoms subside a bit.

The reason I wasn't feeling too serious was because I had a vaginal infection and was taking antibiotics at the time, so I think that might have been the cause. Since it was Lunar New Year, I prepared meals for my in-laws and my family from my parents' side, so I was extremely anxious about transmitting it. I can't even describe how worried I was for several days. Fortunately, I didn't pass it on to other family members. It was the first time I experienced norovirus in my life. I usually don't like it, but now I think I really can't eat oysters anymore.ㅠㅠ