The bottle calls to me and I can’t resist that clear liquid inside.
It’s not vodka (although that’s not too far-fetched.) It’s antibacterial gel. Over the past few weeks alone I’ve used more hand sanitizer than I had previously in my lifetime. I really can’t stand the stuff, have never purchased it, and can’t remember ever putting it on my kids’ hands.
Yet now, as I check in at the physical-therapy office, or wait in line at the bank, or after I touch anything that another human being may have touched, I pump a few squirts into my hands in the hopes that I can go a few more days without catching it: The Flu.
My therapy dog and I visited an elementary school last week, and a few hundred germy little hands touched my pup. The poor girl wasn’t too thrilled about a bath in February, but you could practically see the germs emanating from her fur. (She’s not susceptible to our flu but the Canine Influenza Virus in highly contagious. A Kentucky veterinary hospital recently began requiring that all dogs are vaccinated for CIV before being groomed or boarded.)
I’m not here to debate the efficacy of the flu shot, but the only member of our household who got a flu shot this year got the flu. After winning two out of three fencing bouts, my youngest kiddo took off his helmet and pretty much melted into the gym floor. As the flu is known to do, it hit him like a ton of bricks. If I could lift a 5’10” teenager he would have let me carry him to the car (and then to the CVS Minute Clinic.)
His world for the next four days was limited to a 50-foot radius, never once coming downstairs. Through a haze of nausea and Nyquil, he apologized in advance for getting me sick every time I delivered toast and tea to his germy room. I reminded him that moms don’t get sick.
He did get a dose of Tamiflu, the availability of which is a bit inconsistent among pharmacies. In conjunction with the flu shot, the medicine should have shortened the length and severity of his illness, but he ultimately missed six days of school. A Japanese drug company is developing a pill that promises to knock out the flu in one day, but it’s at least a year away for us, since it’s not yet FDA-approved.
This year’s flu vaccine is reportedly about 36 percent effective, according to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention. But, the CDC stresses, some protection is better than no protection, and it’s not too late to get vaccinated. The flu puts us at risk for other illnesses, and those with existing issues such as heart conditions, diabetes, and cancer are highly encouraged to get vaccinated.
It’s not just the news media hyping this year’s flu: More than 7,000 positive cases of flu have been reported in Connecticut (and not everyone who gets sick gets tested and reported.) As of March 2, the Connecticut Department of Public Health reports that the current season total of 105 flu-related deaths in the state is the highest number reported in the past five years.
I’m not sure if my hand-sanitizing had anything to do with my not catching the creeping crud. I did also wash my hands twice as often as usual, and both of these seem to be the methods my teacher friends have been using, too.
One high school teacher I know said she wipes down the desks in her classroom “every stinking day,” and keeps a bottle of hand sanitizer on her desk for all to use (and they all do.) Changing clothes, showering after school, and not touching one’s face seem to be other popular methods for battling the germs.
Kristin Baker, Farmington High School’s nurse, says teachers are wiping down shared Chromebooks with Clorox wipes every day. She administered 100 flu shots to faculty and staff at the beginning of flu season. And custodians are going beyond the usual cleaning in common areas.
“It’s not like ‘Johnny is sick and was in this one classroom,’’” she says. “Students go to nine or 10 different classrooms each day, and we’ve got 1,500 people in this one building. We’ve been very proactive.”
The nurses at Farmington’s seven schools are using a shared Google document this year to track confirmed cases. Schools are sending home newsletters and emailing parents about the importance of covering sneezes and keeping sick kids home and going to the doctor if they think their children have the flu, but perhaps the most important message is frequent hand-washing, especially before you eat.
A kindergarten teacher said that one of her students remarked: “We wash our hands so much, what if I wash some of my skin off?” And another said “I have asthma on my hands from washing too much.” (She meant eczema.)
Her class did OK, she said this week, with just a few out sick this flu season. She and her students were clearly obsessive about hand-washing, as well as wiping down tables and doorknobs, and keeping their little fingers away from their faces. We can’t avoid every germ but we can certainly make some extra efforts, even if it makes some of our skin fall off.
Teresa M. Pelham is a Farmington-based writer. She is the author of three children’s books, and frequently visits schools with her therapy dog to share her message about animal rescue. Contact Teresa at tpelham@comcast.net.
