Author: Chelsea Song

Children are gearing up for back to school, and some have already returned. When children miss school, they miss valuable opportunities for learning, social development, and emotional development. Let’s plan for a healthy school year. This starts with sufficient sleep, nutritious meals, and adequate physical activity to promote wellbeing. Even following those steps, children can become ill with any of the numerous common childhood illness. With students, families, and school staff following proper precautions, this will minimize disruptions from illnesses in the ever-important educational environment. For illnesses to spread, there needs to be a source, transmission, and a host. Transmission can be through contact with contaminated surfaces (e.g. desktops, doorknobs), sprays and splashes (e.g. from sneezing or coughing), inhalation from aerosolized particles, and vectors (e.g. mosquitos, ticks). The below measures…