3rd school in San Jose school district battling stomach virus, hundreds sickened

A third school in the San Jose Unified School District is now battling a nasty stomach virus. First it was Horace Mann Elementary, then Bachrodt, and now Willow Glen Elementary is dealing with cases too. In all, hundreds of kids have become sick.

District officials say they've been working hard to stop the spread and have brought in extra cleaning crews to disinfect everyting. Still, just when they seem to have the virus under control, it turns up again somewhere new.

At Willow Glen Elementary, the school nurse's office was packed.
Over the last three days, 40 kids have reported symptoms of a stomach virus.

"We've got a little tummy ache. It's probably nothing but we're not taking any chances," says parent Signe Correa.

The San Jose Unified School District isn't taking chances either, now that three schools are fighting the bug.
At Horace Mann, 150 kids have gotten sick over the last month. At Bachrodt Elementary, there's been 68 cases in the last week. And now this.
District officials say this virus seems especially stubborn.

"It seems like we've got it under control. Horace Mann is doing really well. Backrodt is starting to calm down. And now here it's at Willow Glen," says Melinda Landau, manager of Health and Family Support Programs for San Jose Unified.

No one has tested the virus, so it hasn't been identified. And public health officials aren't quite sure how it's being spread. There are no obvious programs or sports shared by all three schools.

"What we're seeing now is that it's being shared amongst families, they're spreading among their cousins. So it's spreading from school to school," says Landau.

And so today staff and some students are wearing rubber gloves and they've been given hand washing tutorials.
The school has also been cleaned from top to bottom and the playground has been roped off.

"I know that they're doing their best to keep the equipment clean and they've got safety protocols in place and we really appreciate that. we're there with them trying to get well," says parent Sabrina Jewell.

Parents have been asked to pick up sick children, and keep them at home for at least 48 hours after they're symptom free.

"I see all the staff wearing gloves today. They're very vigilant about handwashing and not touching each other and not getting too close to each other. So I'm confident they'll get a handle on it," says Correa.

Students certainly hope so.

"I've been sanitizing my hands like 3 times today," says Alejandra Martearena.

Officials say there is some good news as far as stopping the spread of this virus. We're coming up on a three day weekend and the last day of classes is Thursday.