Originally Published by Wane.com
Back-to-school time is exciting for kids across the county. However, it also means the return of germs you don’t see during the summer coming home with your kids.
Up to 80% of infectious diseases are spread through touch, according to Libby Richards, an associate professor in the School of Nursing at Purdue University. She explains classrooms are full of high-touch surfaces.
“Light switches, tabletops, shared school supplies, sports equipment. Kids tend to not be very good at handwashing but they are very good at putting their hands and other objects in their mouths, which leads to disease spread. Couple this with the fact that they’re sitting in close proximity to one another for several hours a day, will lead to infectious disease spread at the start of a school year,” said Richards.
Richards shares that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly half of the United States is seeing high or very high rates of COVID-19 infections, sometimes called a “summer surge.” Indiana has seen a slight increase over the past month in positive cases.
“Our historic temperatures have been forcing people inside in close proximity, which leads to disease spread. In addition, the family of variants that is currently circulating, known as FLiRT variants, tend to evade vaccine-induced immunity better and spread easier person-to-person than other COVID strains.”
Richards explains children play a role in the spread of COVID often because they exhibit mild or no symptoms. So, they could be spreading it without knowing.
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