Photo: Jade Slobin

Student sickness has risen. Despite that, most students still attend school. Sharing her experience, seventh grader Anna Liza Bastawrous highlighted the importance of students washing their hands and not sharing food in order for less sickness. “[The school should be] enforcing washing their hands because I know a lot of people don’t do that,” Bastawrous said.

Seventh grader Anna Liza Bastawrous fell ill for 24 hours over the weekend. In the first few hours, she had a sore throat and eventually watery eyes. 

Bastawrous was not the only person who got sick recently. During January and February, flu season was affecting people across the globe, with students and teachers alike getting sick. 

A poll conducted showed that 43 out of 53 (81.1%) students have been sick within the last few months. However, only 20 of 53 (37.7%) of students have not gone to school due to illness.

Main Office coordinator Letisia Chavez recently noticed many students leaving early or simply not going to school at all, attributing most of the illnesses to the flu.

“I would say, this season, actually, with the flu in general, was the worst season in the last five years,” Chavez said.

Chavez isn’t the only person who noted absent students. Sixth grader James Butler also recognized that many kids were gone from his classes.

“It was pretty celebrated when we’d have the whole class, so at least one kid would be gone most of the time,” Butler said.

The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that this flu season has caused more than 24 million illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths, which is lower than last year but still high compared to previous years. PE and Health teacher Nate Whitney is aware of this, but remains unconcerned. 

“From what I understand, [scientists] missed the shot. You know, they generally put three types of flu into the shot, and they sometimes miss,” Whitney said. He said that this has happened in the past, and he doesn’t believe that it’s anything special.

KING 5 reports that just a bit over 31% of King County residents have received a flu shot this season, slightly lower than last year. Washington State Department of Health reports over 298 emergency department visits per week for flu as of March 14, and more than 193 deaths. 

Whitney stresses the importance of discussing sickness with students, describing how he teaches it in his health classes. 

“We discussed the flu, we discussed vaccinations, we discussed the flu season, [and] when it occurred,” Whitney said.

Chavez believes that students should be washing their hands more, although she provides students with resources if they need it while sick.

“If we see somebody that doesn’t feel good, just kind of offer mask,” Chavez said.