{"id":4746,"date":"2026-01-01T00:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T06:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2025-12-31T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T21:26:09","slug":"important-tips-for-keeping-our-school-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/4746\/student-life\/important-tips-for-keeping-our-school-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Tips For Keeping Our School Healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

High schools are natural hives of infectious disease. Unsanitary surfaces and stuffy classrooms, when combined with all the lovely new diseases everyone\u2019s bringing back from winter break, create a perfect storm for infection. Nationwide, while influenza levels are <\/span>currently low in Wisconsin<\/span><\/a>, they\u2019re quite high in other parts of the country, which is a sure indicator that an uptick in cases is coming. COVID-19 is also <\/span>on the rise in the Midwest<\/span><\/a>, with cases expected to peak in the first or second week of January. So if you want to stay healthy this month, here\u2019s some basic tips to keep in mind!<\/span><\/p>\n

Wear a mask.<\/b> If you have any kind of illness\u2014yes, even if it\u2019s just a light cold or think it\u2019s just allergies\u2014you should be wearing one of these! And if you or a loved one is immunocompromised, you should probably be wearing one in any crowded public space regardless of your current health. Just because these things went out of style doesn\u2019t mean we should stop utilizing them! Masks are important tools of public health, and in many other countries, it\u2019s considered basic manners to wear one while sick.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wash your hands.<\/b> This one should be obvious, but still bears mentioning! While we\u2019re past the peak of norovirus, that pesky illness can linger on surfaces for <\/span>as long as two weeks<\/span><\/a>. Washing your hands before you eat is the best way to avoid contracting it. For norovirus in particular, hand sanitizer isn\u2019t nearly as effective. However, it\u2019s definitely better than nothing! With that being said:<\/span><\/p>\n

Carry hand sanitizer.<\/b> As previously mentioned, sanitizer can\u2019t kill everything. If you have the option, washing your hands with soap and water is always optimal. But in school, that often involves obtaining a pass and walking to the closest bathroom\u2014something you might not want to do every time you have a little snack in class. Carrying some hand sanitizer in your bag or making use of the bottles in classrooms can help cut back risk of contamination with less work. If you\u2019re purchasing your own, <\/span>CDC guidelines<\/span><\/a> state that sanitizers must be 60% to 95% alcohol to be effective at killing germs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get your booster shots.<\/b> If you haven\u2019t already, getting a booster vaccination for flu and COVID-19 is a great idea. While <\/span>the best time<\/span><\/a> to get a booster was in September, so immunity could build before respiratory season kicked in, the second best time is right now! It\u2019s also <\/span>perfectly safe and effective<\/span><\/a> to get booster shots for multiple diseases at once, so loading up on as many as possible is actually optimal. You can schedule flu and COVID boosters at local pharmacies like <\/span>Walgreens<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>CVS<\/span><\/a>. Some stores, such as <\/span>Walmart<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Kroger<\/span><\/a>, also offer vaccinations. While you might experience some side effects, they are guaranteed to be better than what would happen if you actually caught the disease. Getting vaccinated ASAP is in your best interest to prevent illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you keep these four things in mind, you can help preserve both the health of the VPM community and yourself! Doing a little can go a lot farther than you think, so let\u2019s work together to make this a healthy January!<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High schools are natural hives of infectious disease. Unsanitary surfaces and stuffy classrooms, when combined with all the lovely new diseases everyone\u2019s bringing back from winter break, create a perfect storm for infection. Nationwide, while influenza levels are currently low in Wisconsin, they\u2019re quite high in other parts of the country, which is a sure…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":4747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,7],"tags":[331],"staff_name":[202],"class_list":["post-4746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","category-student-life","tag-january-26","staff_name-amalia-weix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4749,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions\/4749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=4746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}