Thread by @ZdenekVrozina

Imagine a school year where 4 out of 5 students and staff get sick with a respiratory infection.
That’s not a dystopia.
That’s what a new study just found in a large US school district.🧵

https://twitter.com/atranscendedman/status/1967695395607462322

816 children and staff were followed from November 2022 to May 2023.
They self-collected nasal swabs, reported symptoms, and were tracked week after week.

Result.
85% had at least one virus detected
80% had at least one acute respiratory illness (ARI)
(sic!)

Think about what 80% means in real life.
Children missing weeks of learning
Parents juggling sick days and work
Teachers repeatedly falling ill while holding schools together
It’s systemic disruption.

The highest illness rates?
Preschoolers (pre-K)
And school staff
In other words - the youngest children, and the adults who care for them, are the most exposed.

So handwashing help, but they can’t touch the core problem - shared air.
Respiratory viruses spread in the spaces we breathe together. That means the air itself needs to be part of the solution.

Ventilation and filtration aren’t fancy extras.
They’re among the few simple, cost-effective tools that can
cut the viral load in classrooms
reduce transmission
improve attendance
and protect learning outcomes

For influenza or RSV, good air can nearly stop spread.
For highly infectious viruses like Omicron, it can’t eliminate transmission - but it can prevent an entire class from falling sick at once.

Parents are used to children being sick in school. It feels normal.
But numbers like these show it doesn’t have to be.
We’ve normalized disruption, when we could prevent it.

80% sick in one school year is not inevitable.
It’s a message.
Clean, healthy air in schools is both a public health intervention and an educational investment.

Goldman at al., Respiratory Virus Detection and Acute Respiratory Illness Rates in Students and Staff in Schools. publications.aap.org/pediatrics/art…