A virus called Norovirus has been going around Santa Clara Unified School District, and it recently hit SCHS.

Norovirus is highly contagious among humans. People acquire the virus by sharing foods or liquid, or they can be contaminated during the processing of foods. Some symptoms of the disease include vomiting, diarrhea, malaise, fever and muscle aches.

Currently, there have been two cases reported at SCHS.

Freshmen Nathan Whalen started getting the symptoms of the Norovirus on Monday night, and he has not been at school since. He does not like the idea of having to miss school, especially towards the ends of the year.

“I really don’t like the fact that I’m missing out on school because as the year wraps up, I want to finish off strong,” Whalen said.

After hearing announcements about the virus, many SCHS students expressed concern about getting the virus, including sophomore Luke Gonzalez.

“I hope that the janitors are doing everything they can to help solve the problem,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t want to get sick right before finals.”

Other students like sophomore Zach Penrod are not as worried because they feel the students are in good hands, and school personnel is doing everything they can.

“I’m not really scared of the disease because SCHS is already a pretty clean campus, and the school is doing everything they can to prevent this from spreading,” Penrod said.

According to head custodian Randy Ratliff, staff at SCHS are doing everything to stop the sickness from spreading.

“All the janitors at SCHS are doing everything they can to make sure that this doesn’t spread anymore,” Ratliff said. “We are taking extra time to bleach whatever we can.”

School nurse, Karen Keating, suggests students be aware of the virus and take extra precautions, such as washing their hands more often.

“If any student comes into the office who has thrown up, I send them home right away,” Keating said. “This is a serious sickness and all students need to remember to wash their hands before and after they eat.”

SCHS will continue to take the proper precautions and continue to do everything they can to make sure the virus does not spread.

“I was not expecting to get this sickness,” Whalen said. “However, I am hoping SCHS will do everything they can so nobody else gets it.”