Social distancing diminishes our ability to fight off colds

When we finally get to mix and mingle again, the price could be a runny nose.

When we’re huddling at home and not mixing with others, we’re not giving our immune systems a chance to develop immunity against colds. This could lead to spikes in upper respiratory illnesses such as colds when we do reopen schools and offices, health experts say.

That’s what happened in Hong Kong s chools, according to a study published recently in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers tracked a spike in upper respiratory infections shortly after children returned to childcare centers and schools in October. This happened even though teachers and students reported following strict COVID-19 measures.

“Staff and students wore face masks at all times; lunch hours were canceled, desks were spaced out, and group activities were limited,” the researchers noted.

Despite those precautions, researchers had counted tallied 482 outbreaks of upper respiratory infections in

Hong Kong schools by the end of November. Of the outbreaks, 308 were in primary schools and 149 were in kindergartens, childcare centers, and nursery schools. The remaining 25 were in secondary schools.

More adults had colds about two weeks after the full reopening of schools, possible driven by colds spreading among children. The widespread outbreaks led to territory-wide school closures.

No COVID-19 or influenza infections were found among the Hong Kong students in the study.