Things are winding down at school. The kids are chilled and get to watch movies like The Grinch at school. Candy canes are being handed out by classmates.
And so I was like "hmm, ok" when my 7yo came home and told me 8 people were absent on Wednesday out of the 21 kids in her class. Wow was the best I could think of at the time.. Apparently they all had the stomach bug.
Then Thursday came along and we all showed up to their Speech Day assembly where the kids filed up on stage one by one to get their certificates of merit. And then one kid went up with a vomit bag. Still didn't think much of it.
Friday, the last day of school. We meet for our usual end of term dinner with the usual group of parents and kids. Except it was bloody hot at over 35 degrees, the kids were tired, we trooped there on public transport, and one of the parents was late.
Turns out, one of the kids had a big spew just after getting off the bus. Right on the sidewalk of a a very busy road. Bright pink spew. Exorcist style. So her parent got called to pick her up and they were obviously not coming to the dinner. And so when we got there, we found out that it was chaos in the two or so hours between school finishing and this dinner. Afterschool care staff were on the radio frantically trying to quarantine spewing kids or sick kids into different classrooms. At some point, a blanket announcement was sent out for all parents to come pick up their child asap because they were probably overwhelmed with the sheer number of sick kids.
As we said hi to one of the families that were supposed to come to dinner, everyone watched in horror as their 7yo suddenly stopped in the middle of the pub and started spewing. Exorcist style again. Poor kid just stood there for a few seconds in shock, standing in a pool of his own vomit. They went home too. And then the fear began. Who was next?! It was like the zombie apocalypse or something... one kid was so terrified of getting sick, he went mid-meal to wash his hands to be doubly sure he was alright.
As the night came, a poll was set up. How many kids were down with gastro? How many are terrified they'll be next? We started with around 10? 12? around early evening and by the next morning, the number jumped to 19. And then stories came in of other kids in other grades who had also spewed overnight. At this point, it just feels like everyone just might be spewing at home all day.
Trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel here. Hopefully the rest of us stay well and we get past this outbreak in the next few days!
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