As the Influenza (flu) season approaches us this year, people all around the world have started to wonder what precautions they can take to protect themselves from this virus.
“Now, isolation was bad in many ways and it’s not the answer, but simple things like hand washing and if you’re sick, don’t go to school or work, just doing those kinds of things,” said Certified Pharmacist Scott E. Seitz.
Seitz compared how people protected themselves from COVID-19 to the flu. He said that many people were told to isolate themselves during that time and that would slow the spread. While that may be partially true, there were more effective measures the community could have taken. One would be “wearing masks,” according to Harvard.
When the first strain of COVID-19 was discovered in late 2019, people all around the world went into panic. People started to stay home and convert every task they did in-person to a remote task.
“The pandemic has affected the public’s mental health and well-being in a variety of ways, including through isolation and loneliness, job loss and financial instability, and illness and grief,” said the Kaiser Family Foundation.
While the effects of COVID-19 were based around mental health of the world population and was in the past, the flu is reoccurring and is similar to COVID-19 but mainly affected students and adults’ attendance at work and school. This caused problems with the education of students.
Not only does COVID-19 affect the attendance rates of students and adults, but the flu also does, too.
“I think the hard part with the flu is that if you get a particular strain, that makes you exceptionally sick, or if you’re just, you know, exceptionally susceptible to that illness, then there is a chance that you will have longer recovery time, which can have a greater effect on your education,” said Science Teacher Amanda Fricke.
When flu season hits, student’s attendance rates drop, and this can affect how well the student is prepared for lessons later in their lives.
“When children are absent from school, they miss out on consistent instruction that is needed to develop basic skills,” according to the School of Education Online Programs.
While other factors impact attendance, students’ attendance rates are negatively impacted by Covid-19 and the flu.
Although the facts and opinions from experts in the medical field are highly taught to communities, the people involved or affected by the topic tend to voice their concerns or questions. In this case, it is the students and adults in the workforce.
