20 Surprising Facts About the Flu & Colds in the Classroom
- One sneeze can spray 3,000 infectious droplets into the air at more than 100 MPH.
- Cold and flu viruses can live up to 24 hours on hard surfaces like desks and textbooks, and up to 3 hours on your skin.
- The Rhinovirus is the official name for the common cold, and Rhino is Greek for 'nose'.
- 94% of parents feel it's important their children are taught how cold and flu viruses spread.
- 96% of school nurses agree that when a child comes to school sick, other children tend to catch his or her virus.
- The common cold results in 22 million lost school days per year.
- Back to school is the best time for you to communicate with children and parents about how to minimize the risk of getting the cold and flu bug.
- Runny noses are easily spread among children in school.
- Reducing the spread of viruses in the classroom and the hallways of school is the best way to keep kids from getting sick.
- The Center for Disease Control recommends facial tissues as one of the key strategies to minimize cold and flu viruses.
- Every year, the U.S alone reports more than one billion colds and 25-50 million flue cases.
- Eight in ten consumers who are familiar with Kleenex® Anti-Viral* Tissues would recommend the product to parents or teachers.
- Students are exposed to cold and flu viruses all year round. Which is why it's important to battle cold and flu bugs with Kleenex® Anti-Viral* Tissues all school year.
- An estimated 125 million workdays are missed by parents who stay home with a sick child.
- Kleenex® Anti-Viral* Tissue is the only facial tissue that kills 99.9% of common cold and flu viruses* in the tissue within 15 minutes, including the pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus* (formerly called swine flu).
- 88% of mothers say their children caught the cold or flu from classmates.
- 79% of mothers feel their child gets sick more often during the school year.
- Children in school environments can have as many as 12 colds per year, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
- 72% of moms surveyed feel cleaning up piles of facial tissues in the house when a family member is sick has contributed to their cold or flu.
- 57% of moms feel that placing a child's used tissue in their pocket on the go has contributed to the spread of the bug.
*Kills 99.9% of cold and flu viruses in the tissue within 15 minutes. Virucidal against Rhinoviruses Type 1A and 2; Influenza A and B; and Respiratory Syncytial Virus; in the tissue within 15 minutes.