By RACHEL LIGHT
Los Alamos

COVID-19 brings up many negative feelings for people, such as fear, uncertainty, and social isolation. For many, the days repeat themselves like a scene from the movie Groundhog Day and it’s hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Yet, COVID-19 provides us with the perfect opportunity to put sustainable public health measures in schools, such as regular handwashing, that could yield benefits way beyond the current pandemic.

Implementing regular handwashing at key times in school has many benefits for reducing illness beyond COVID-19. This includes the potential to reduce the spread of other respiratory illnesses, as well as gastrointestinal illnesses and, therefore, absenteeism, for both staff and students. The presence of students at school is central to their success educationally and in life. In addition, reducing teacher sick days leads to schools paying less for substitute teachers, while allowing students to better keep up with their curriculum.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a number of people around the world about their experience where schools have reopened. One emerging best practice is regular, scheduled handwashing–starting the moment that kids arrive at school and before they enter the classroom. When schools in Denmark reopened, for example, kids at one school washed their hands every 1.5 hours. Fifteen-minute breaks for regular handwashing were built into the class schedule throughout the day, including before lunch. In Japan, kids at a school in Tokyo take about 15 minutes out of every hour for handwashing and cleaning desktops, etc. While we might follow different practices, these schools have clearly made handwashing a priority.

We know that handwashing has a high return. This return will be even greater now, in the face of COVID-19. We also know that good hygiene practices must be built into the school routine or children will not wash their hands as needed. In this sense, COVID-19 gives us a unique opportunity. Perhaps when kids are allowed back in the classroom five days a week, their new handwashing routines will help keep them there. Let’s not miss the opportunity to improve the health of our schoolchildren, create lifelong healthy habits, and help reduce the spread of future disease outbreaks.

Editor’s note: Rachel Light is a graduate of the George Washington University School of Public Health. Her public health experience includes work on malaria, incentives for health system performance, and polio eradication. Since moving to Los Alamos, she has been actively involved in efforts to enhance school health.