Babson College closed its campus due to an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness likely caused by norovirus at 5 p.m. Saturday, school officials announced on Babson’s website. ‘ ‘ ‘
Classes, events and activities will remain suspended until Wednesday morning, officials said.

There have been a total of 119 reported cases among the 3,400 students at Babson since last Wednesday, according to an email update Babson President Leonard Schlesinger sent to the Babson community Sunday evening.

‘The news today is encouraging,’ he said. ‘The number of new illness reported to Health Services has declined significantly since yesterday.’

Babson’s quick response to the outbreak includes a number of measures, such as working with the Wellesley Health Department and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, expanding on-call staff for the Offices of Campus Life and Health Services, implementing a revised dining plan and undertaking a cleaning and sanitation of residence halls and facilities, according to the email.

Symptoms of the virus include diarrhea, fever and vomiting that usually last about 36 hours, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s website.

The symptoms have been seen all over campus, freshman Tom Lavin said.

‘It looked miserable,’ junior Mike McMahon, whose suitemate contracted the virus, said. ‘He vomited about 12 times the first day he had it.’

Despite administrative requests for students to stay on campus, many have gone home, sophomore Ryeon Kim said.

Students were excited to have a long weekend, but preferred to be cautious about the virus, sophomore Darovena Myrtaj, who went home after being ill Thursday night, said.

‘People would rather be sick at home than stay on campus where you can re-catch it,’ Myrtaj said.

Although they were happy to get a long weekend, some students said they are baffled by the school’s response.

‘We think it’s ridiculous because it’s not that bad,’ Lavin said. ‘It’s not like it’s the plague or anything.”

A similar outbreak occurred a few weeks ago but disappeared after Babson’s spring break, Lavin said.

Staff writer Ellie Choi contributed reporting to this article.