It is that time of year where everyone around you seems to be sick. Here is a list of the seven most common places children can catch the flu.
Day Care and Preschool
The biggest factor that makes a place high-risk for the flu is how many other people there are infected. Many day-care centers and preschools have large groups of kids, upping the chances that someone there is sick. Plus, the influenza virus — especially when it’s hanging out in mucus — can live on surfaces for hours. That means plenty of opportunities for contact with little kids, who bounce from toy to toy (grabbing and mouthing them along the way) and then touch their eyes, noses, and mouths.
Playdates
Extended one-on-one contact and sharing toys (if your child’s willing to share, that is) make playdates prime opportunities for your critter to catch the flu. Most parents won’t knowingly send their sick children to a playdate, but it’s not always possible to know in the early stages if a child is ill. And a person infected with the flu can spread it to others the day before symptoms even appear.
Airplanes
Your family’s buckled in and ready for takeoff and then, “Achoo!” You hear a fellow flier sneezing and coughing. You’re most at risk if the sick passenger is seated near you, since large flu droplets in coughs and sneezes can travel only about three feet. But smaller particles can travel farther — and, at high-enough concentrations, they can get your family sick. Good air circulation helps if you’re next to the sick guy; but, then again, if you’re seated farther away, good air circulation makes it more likely that you’ll be exposed to the virus.
The Doctor’s Office
In the winter, the pediatrician’s waiting room — full of sniffling, sneezing, coughing kids — can feel like a scene from Contagion, and the checkup room itself is full of surfaces (the chair, the exam table, the doorknob) sick kids have touched. Your child could go in perfectly fine for a checkup and come out infected with the flu.
The Mall
Any communal means for pushing your pipsqueak from shop to shop (be it a traditional shopping cart, kid-size race car, or dino-on-wheels) is a germ magnet. The toy aisle is another contagion zone, where little hands are likely to paw at playthings on the shelves. Elevator buttons and handrails on stairs, escalators, and floors (basically, all the surfaces kids love to touch) are other places little ones can come into contact with the flu virus more easily.
Indoor Playgrounds
If you suspect the play area at your local fast-food joint is a germ-a-rama, chances are you’re right. You don’t know how or when it was last cleaned. Plus, since indoor playgrounds are public spaces, parents may have less motivation than they would on a playdate to keep their sniffly kids out of them.
Home, Sweet Home
Your very own home, safe and cozy as it feels, is a great place to catch the flu. You or your partner could bring something home from work. Your little one could bring something home from day care. Or your caregiver could bring something to your house from hers. If your little one has an older sibling, he’s especially at risk of getting sick, since school-age children are a major source of infection among families.
