Virus sickens 235 Middleboro students

MIDDLEBORO, Mass. (WHDH) -- A quick-moving stomach virus made its way through a Middleboro elementary school last week.

Second grader Andrew Small is now missing his third day of class.

“Actually we’re going to the doctor’s because he’s home again. So it starts with the vomiting, very sharp pains and then diarrhea,” said Bridget Small, whose entire family got sick.

On Friday, 235 of the roughly 660 students and 20 staff members either called in or left the Mary K. Goode School sick.

“Within the first hours of the morning was that kids came down to the nurse’s office and they were all vomiting,” said Roseli Weiss, Middleboro Schools Superintendent.

“His class is over there. My daughter’s over there, I guess his hallway was hit harder than hers. But even when she went to school she said, ‘Mom it was just crazy. People were throwing up in the hallways,’” said Small.

The school immediately notified the local health department, who then contacted the state. It’s believed the students contracted something like a norovirus that typically lasts 24 to 48 hours.

“As soon as we realized what was happening we continued to wipe everything and that’s really the best preventative we can do right now,” said Weiss.

The superintendent believes it’s getting better, with 64 reported absences on Tuesday.

One dad told 7News he is now at home with four sick children and thinks this is only the beginning.

“I think they should close the schools down, clean it all out, and start fresh,” said Robert Capeau, who has children home sick.

Because the virus lasts only 24 to 48 hours, the state can’t do much testing so the school may never know the exact source or exact strain of the illness.