Staying Healthy: Navigating Peak Cold and Flu Season in Schools

Winter break is over, and school is back in session! Unfortunately, germs don’t take a vacation, especially during the thick of cold and flu season. In the United States, respiratory virus activity in the community is high. Recently, I partnered with CloroxPro on a webinar on navigating this cold and flu season for schools, where we discussed what the current respiratory virus season is looking like, knowing when and how to enhance your cleaning/disinfection, and overall strategies for making schools healthier and safer. In case you missed out or need a refresher on the information discussed, keep reading below!

Current Respiratory Virus Trends in the U.S.

Despite an anticipated peak of January 1st, it unfortunately looks like we’re not at the peak yet, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared that while RSV activity has mostly peaked, COVID-19 has increased.¹ Test positivity is a helpful indicator of community cold & flu activity, as it tells us what percentage of tests done, were positive. Meaning that if 100 people went in and got a flu test and 15 came back positive, the influenza positivity rate would be 15%. The CDC has reported that positivity rates for influenza are still high, going from 18.8% to 29.4% in the last week, which hopefully means that we’re nearing the peak of flu season. The CDC reports that emergency department visits are low but increasing for COVID-19, and high for flu and RSV while continuing to increase.²

Knowing When to Increase Cleaning and Disinfection

With all this helpful data on flu and cold activity, how can we use it to make informed decisions and combat germs in our schools? There are a few helpful indicators that can serve as warning flags for when you should increase cleaning and disinfection in schools:

• • Local and national respiratory virus activity: Use cold and flu surveillance data from local and national (CDC) public health department websites, as well as trusted public health resources, like BlueDot and CIDRAP.
• • Illness within the school: Is absenteeism higher in classrooms and among colleagues? Does your school or district share trends?
• • Experience: Trust your gut! You’ve been through several cold and flu seasons before, so hearing a lot of coughing, sniffling, sneezing, and talk of people getting sick, it can be a good heads up that germs are spreading in the community at higher rates.
• • Practical resources: Check out CloroxPro’s resource center, which is great for learning more about this year’s cold and flu season and the pathogens at play.

All these resources can help give us a full picture of what kind of respiratory viruses are circulating in the community and serve as an indicator to enhance our cleaning/disinfection measures.

Strengthening School Health and Safety Protocols

Equipped with the information to increase your infection prevention efforts, there are some helpful ways to go about it. Setting up cleaning/disinfection protocols and a routine is the key for success, so it’s helpful to incorporate these strategies when you’re working to strengthen your response to germs in the classroom. First, increase cleaning and disinfecting frequency based on high-touch surfaces and how people interact with them. Second, keep it consistent! Making it part of a routine ensures these efforts are done every day, and healthy habits are formed. Lastly, maintaining flexibility is key. Having an agile approach to protocols allows you to account for changes such as equipment use and human behavior as you increase your cleaning and disinfection of germ hotspots.

Year-Round Efforts — Germ Health and Safety in Schools

Sick days and illness cost more than we realize, from millions of dollars each year in schools to lost learning and impacted families. While we’re currently focused on cold and flu season, germs are a year-round issue in schools and efforts implemented now can be translated to larger, year-round success. Promoting health-conscious behaviors among students and staff in response to cold and flu can help create long-lasting behaviors. Having conversations with people about their concerns and how we can combat germs through infection prevention, practicing what you teach, and updating efforts to ensure ongoing efficacy and efficiency is a great way to reduce the spread of germs.

Risk reduction is additive, so each protocol, conversation, and effort, all contribute to making schools safer and healthier against germs. From keeping an eye on community flu trends to establishing consistent protocols, you’ve got all the resources to help foster health-focused school culture and empower students, teachers, and staff to be proactive against germs.

To learn more about this year’s cold and flu season and best practices for preventing the spread of germs,illness, check out CloroxPro’s cold and flu resource center.