Mitchell Elementary students under virus' attack

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The Hillsborough County School District is warning parents about a second school that has dozens of sick students.

Wednesday, they reported that Lowry elementary had a hundred students who got the norovirus.

Now, Mitchell Elementary has forty students who are sick with a nasty stomach bug.

How gross is it?

"On a scale of 1-10, it's probably an 8," said Kolin Kish, a third grader.

He's washing his hands five times a day, with soap, not the hand sanitizer his grandfather, Nick Kish, carries.

"It's not effective enough," said Nick Kish.

Forty classmates have what the health department calls an unspecified gastrointestinal illness.

"We are having our field trips and none of the kids want to miss their field trips," said Kolin Kish. "They have heard about how bad it has been from a couple of kids and they don't really wanna get it."

Lowry Elementary is battling the vomit producing norovirus.

The health department now says a 140 have it.

"It stays on surfaces for up to weeks at a time and it can be resistant to some of the disinfectants that we use," said Fox 13 medical doctor Joette Giovinco.

The district has deep cleaned Lowry four times now, and Mitchell three.

They've also sent voicemails in hopes of keeping parents informed.

Dr. Jo says these are tough battles, because kids spread germs easily by playing and sharing.

"I hope that they feel better and hopefully it doesn't spread to other kids in our class," said Kolin Kish.

Parents are being asked not to send kids back to school until they have been symptom-free for 48 hours.