Norovirus.
It’s here in my area as well, but not on the hiking trails.
And since people tend not to go to the hospital for it, it doesn’t get tracked or reported.
“Norovirus.”
Yep, almost certainly Norovirus. Super highly contagious and can only be killed on surfaces with bleach. It’s not the trails that are infected, but all the motels, hotels, restaurants and other public facilities along the trails that are harboring the disease, exacerbated by poor cleaning and sanitation practices.
Most likely, unless a concerted effort is made to properly cleanse all of the these facilities all at the same time, this nasty little disease is gonna hang around for a very long time.
Norovirus hit the Boy Scout camp here and shut it down. It’s a pain to get out.