Vomit!!!

Why dont parents believe children when they say they are sick?
Why do parents keep their children home from school due to illness and then bring them to the library?
On Friday we had a child demonstrate to everyone how sick he was...all over the floor in the Children's area of the library.
YUK!!!
Trouble was we were rather busy with non vomiting library users so the mess could not be cleaned up at once and we lacked the cleaning products to tackle the job effectively.
The child was given a bin to continue his outflow and paper towels were placed on the area to absorb the moisture. But apart from clearing the chunks and sponging the area with non absorbent paper towels there was not much we could do.
Any suggestions for next time?
We often have adults come to the library saying they have been to the doctors and are very sick with flu or a virus (gastro!!!!) and then cough or sneeze all over the circ desk while getting books.
And we wonder why library branch staff all get sick around the same time of the year.