Flu Season in Schools

The influenza virus strikes individuals across the nation; however, few places feel the impact greater than schools. Adults are more likely cognizant of an on-coming illness and can take measures to minimize their exposure to others and find treatment to help shorten the duration. Students, on the other hand, rarely recognize the virus until they are extremely ill. While preventative measures including the flu shot are encouraged for all, this vulnerable population poses a particular risk.

Part of the problem is that students in K-12 settings are ideal incubators for the virus. First, there are children whose understanding of proper handwashing and sterile techniques are considerably lacking. Second, they are cloistered together in settings where all errant sneezes and coughs are shared by the entire room. Adding to the composite, shared drinks, water fountain cross pollination, snack groups, and the like, it is no wonder how one sick child can become a classroom and then an entire school population of children exposed to the virus. Furthermore, for the rare child in a class unaffected by the virus, he is certain to garner exposure on the bus ride to and from school where congestion of bodies and backpacks spares on one from the group dynamic.

Parents of school age children should talk with them about proper hand washing, coughing indirectly, tissue disposal, and limiting sharing materials which could spread the virus. It is also vital that parents encourage their child to share how he is feeling, taking temperatures anytime a child appears to be potentially symptomatic. A temperature is the body’s way of trying to combat an invasion of some type. While a temperature may help destroy some harmful bacterial and

viruses, it is a warning sign that something has slipped out of the homeostatic norm.

There is truly only one way to attempt to manage the flu and its associated viral congeners in the classroom; this solution requires cooperation from parents who keep sick children home as soon as they suspect the virus. Sending a suspect child to school to see how he does, does nothing but assure

that his condition becomes their condition. Keeping sick children home until they are considered by the medical experts to be unlikely to be contagious is the only certain, proactive approach to help schools combat the high tides of flu season. Furthermore, encouraging parent education through local health departments as well as the Center for Disease Control materials, may help minimize the intensity of those exposed to the virus.

Keeping students healthy is a

challenge, especially in influenza season. The best medicine for healthy kids may be a combination of proactive steps like flu shot inoculation, education on proper hand washing, sterilization of areas where students have contact like desks and bus seats, and minimization of exposure to other students’ drinks and personal items. Maintaining healthy school environments is a challenge requiring cooperation between parents and school officials as well as daily diligence to keep the germs at bay.

When the illnesses do come to call, keeping kids home to recover and seeing their doctor early are perhaps the best actions parents can take to shorten the duration of the illness and minimize school wide exposure.