New early childhood educators spend countless hours preparing for the job: learning classroom management strategies, decorating their classrooms, inventing creative imaginative play centers. But there’s only so much they can do to plan for the highly contagious viruses that their students inevitably bring with them to school.
By the time flu season hits, teachers might start getting sick, as young children in confined spaces easily transmit airborne viruses to adults. And this year, flu season has come early, according to Dr. William Schaffner, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Just this week, an elementary school in Prince George’s County, Md., closed after dozens of students and staff fell ill with respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses. This episode comes on the heels of a particularly rough 2025-6 flu season, which by early January saw at least 11 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths—nine of them children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Notably, in January, the federal government shifted guidelines on the annual flu shot from a blanket, universal recommendation to one based on “shared clinical decisionmaking,” meaning that the vaccine should be administered only after consultation with a healthcare provider. The shift came as 48 states reported high or very high flu levels, according to the CDC.
Education Week caught up with Schaffner, who is also the spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which develops and promotes evidence-based guidelines for diagnosing, treating, and managing infectious diseases, to learn more about why new teachers of very young children are particularly susceptible to the flu and other commonly transmitted viruses, and best practices to minimize risk during the flu season.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Is there an actual flu season, or is that just a myth?
It’s far from a myth. Influenza in the temperate zones of the world, including the United States, is influenced by a striking seasonal distribution. Usually, it starts to pick up sometime in November, peaks in February, extends into March and trickles off in April, and it’s virtually gone during the late spring, summer, and early fall.
This year, it’s starting a little early.
So, flu season is here already?
Here we are in October and, in most parts of the country, flu activity has picked up. And there are common colds that are not influenza, and other viral respiratory infections, that are transmitted more commonly during the late fall, winter, and very early spring. These viral respiratory infections have a clear seasonal distribution.
Are new teachers at greater risk of picking up contagious viruses from students?
Undoubtedly. It’s similar to when new parents have a child who goes to daycare or kindergarten and, all of a sudden, they develop viral infections that, while they were single, they never had.
Children actually shed more viruses than do adults, and for a more prolonged period. We like to say they have the “distribution franchise” of all of these viruses, and they bring them home to parents. And, in a quite analogous situation, the same is true for new teachers.
In general, are younger students more likely than older ones to pass on contagious viruses to teachers?
Yes. Young children are naive to viruses like the flu and common cold viruses, meaning their immune systems have not necessarily encountered them yet.
So when they acquire these infections, they’re more likely to become ill and spread the virus because they shed large amounts of the virus, and for longer periods of time. They’re transmitters; they can give the virus to others.
How are these common viruses most readily transmitted?
These respiratory viruses are, by and large, spread via the air through close contact, within six feet of someone.
When an infected child exhales, you can’t see it. But they shed virus in the air when they exhale, and if someone is close, they inhale some of that air which contains viruses, and after a short incubation period, they too will start to have runny eyes, sniffle, cough, etc.
So even when young students are up to date on their vaccine schedule, they’re still going to be more susceptible than an older child to getting sick and passing viruses on to others, correct?
Yes. Also, vaccines protect against specific viruses. For example, the influenza virus protects against influenza. But it doesn’t protect against rhinoviruses, which cause common colds.
Also, the respiratory virus vaccines actually work best at keeping us out of the hospital; they protect us against severe disease. They cannot protect us against milder infections. So even if you’re vaccinated against influenza, you can still get influenza and feel rather crummy for a few days, but you’re not going to get severely infected.
Is that the case with all vaccines?
No. There are some vaccines that children get that are so good they protect against the entire illness, mild and severe. Measles, for instance. If you get the appropriate two doses of measles vaccine, you’re not going to get measles, and you get lifetime protection.
So some vaccines are more complete. And although each vaccine is a little bit different, each vaccine is also the best protection that current science can provide.
Over time, do new teachers become more resistant to common viruses their students bring to school?
In general, yes. Resistance comes with increased exposure.
What can teachers, especially new teachers, do to best protect themselves against contagious viruses?
Several things. Good hand washing is, of course, important. Encouraging parents who have sick children to keep them at home. And encouraging the school to enforce the current vaccination requirements for school attendance.
Also, during flu season, wearing a mask offers another degree of protection, especially in an indoor environment where there are a lot of people, like religious services, sporting events, shopping centers.
What can teachers do, in the classroom and beyond, to cut down on virus transmission?
Disinfecting desks and other inanimate surfaces is fine, but respiratory viruses are transmitted principally via air, not by hands or environmental surfaces.
I recommend doing the things that make it easier for the body to respond if you get infected: Get a good night’s sleep, keep yourself well-hydrated, eat a balanced diet, and exercise in moderation. All of those things keep you as healthy as possible, so that when you do acquire an infection, your body responds better.
Any other advice you’d like to emphasize to help teachers avoid getting sick this flu season?
I’m going to assume the vast majority of teachers consider themselves very healthy people. And many people say, “Well, I never get the flu, and when I do get the flu, it doesn’t bother me.”
But the flu can, on occasion, lay out even very healthy people, putting them into bed and making them feel miserable. On occasion, it can send even a healthy person to the hospital.
So take advantage of the influenza vaccine. Take advantage of the COVID vaccine. Ask your doctor if you’re eligible for any other vaccines. Take advantage of the protection that modern science can provide.
