By Annette Newcomb/Editor
Instead of practicing for their annual Veteran’s Day assembly, students at Trevor Wilmot Grade School got Friday off, due to a fast moving virus that has effected many students and staff. And Monday’s Veteran’s Day assembly has been canceled.
School administrator Dr. George Steffen said things started looking bad Wednesday when some of 561 students started vomiting. On Thursday at least 85 students were sent home and “that number kept rising” before the final bell, he said.
“We had more kids getting sick on the bus on the way home. We knew we had to get control of this and chose to voluntarily close school Friday to stop it from spreading.”
What “it” is exactly is still to be determined but school officials are leaning toward a Norovirus that spreads quickly. But nothing is certain at this point.
“We called in the Kenosha County Health Department. We wanted to determine where this orginated from.
“They went through our food records, checked our refrigerators and freezes, tested out milk. They went through everything and couldn’t find anything that was wrong.”
“Principal Ted Gavlin corrilated the list of students who ate our hot lunch with students who brought their lunch and got sick. It’s all over the board. We had eight students who ate our hot lunch every day and did not get sick. Then we have kids were brought their lunch and got sick. It’s just hard to pinpoint.”
Steffen said cleaning crews came in Thursday night and returned Friday to disinfect every surface possible.
“You can imagine things kids touch, key boards, door knowbs, push bars on doors, pencil sharpeners, the list goes on,” Steffon said. He said the day care in the school is also being treated. “Everything is getting disinfected.”
After the second mass cleaning on Friday crews will come in and steam clean all the carpets. The school is closed for the weekend and Steffon hopes keeping the kids away from each other will help stop them from infecting each other.
“We have asked parents who have sick kids to come in and pick up a stool test kit. We will send those to the Kenosha County Health Department for testing.