So our son has Cystic Fibrosos (posted about it before). It's a genetic, chronic, and terminal, lung disease that causes his lungs to develop chronic infections. So, a regular flu or cold for you or I will likely put him in the hospital. Put it this way: if he coughs or has a runny nose for more than a couple of days, he's going on an oral antibiotic. If that doesn't work he goes inpatient for 14 days for IV-antibiotics. (Which sucks and disrupts our family in profound ways--and to be frank--shortens his life expectancy).

During the 2018-2019 school year, he was hospitalized for a total of 21 days in a 9 month period. He was constantly sick. But we want him to be 'normal' and have a normal childhood experience, so we wanted him to go to school. But he was constantly sick. Parents would let their kids come to school regardless of how sick they were etc. We ended up pulling him out for long stretches during the winter.

So, last year we told him he had to wear a mask every day. We worked with the school and the teacher to put some special cleanliness requirements in place: he wipes down his desk with Lysol wipes 2-3 times per day, he wears a mask all day every day, the entire class washes their hands when they arrive, before recess, before lunch, after recess, after lunch, etc. etc. AND, most importantly, the school allowed us to send a letter home with the kids in his class explaining our son's situation and begging them to keep their kids home if they were sick. This worked really well. On the few occasions when someone sick would come to school, the teacher would text my wife and she would go get my son and take him home for the day. Also, by the end of the year, some other kids in the class started to wear masks because they realized it was helping.

And guess what. It's been 13 months since he was hospitalized and he's only had 1 round of oral antibiotics during that time period (which is the best stretch of his life).

Also, the teacher said it was the healthiest class she's ever had in her career. Imagine that: washing hands, telling sick kids to stay home, and encouraging masks helped keep kids healthy. Weird.

Point is this: as the father of a kid who can get very sick, here were my observations:
- School is a breeding ground for disease. It just is.
- Masks--whether causal or correlative--worked. And little kids will happily wear them
- DON'T SEND YOUR KIDS TO SCHOOL IF THEY'RE SICK. It's absurd. And I was guilty when I was a kid. I was perfect attendance throughout elementary school and high school. I don't think I missed a single day of school....which is insane. I was probably sick 5-8 days per year and should have stayed home. Schools need to stop rewarding perfect attendance. It's ridiculous to encourage kids to come to school when they're sick. STAY HOME IF YOU'RE SICK...LIKE AT ALL. It is irresponsible and unkind and obnoxious to send your kids to school when they're sick.
- Cleanliness - Kids should be made to wash their hands multiple times per day in the classroom.

Not sure what my point is in sharing this other than to say that things that parents, kids and teachers can and do make a difference in sickness.