Businesses continue to navigate respiratory illness season

APPLETON, Wis. — Illnesses, whether it be COVID, the flu or even the common cold, are spreading throughout Wisconsin.

According to Wisconsin Department of Health Services data, flu transmission is at a very high activity level, although activity is expected to decrease in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 transmission is at moderate levels of activity, but still rising, according to DHS.

The impact of this wave of illness is being felt far and wide, especially in the workplace.

The staff and kids at Bridges Child Enrichment Center in Appleton, Wis., share plenty of memorable milestones.

Nicole Seebruck-Zellmer, executive director, said staff and kids alike are also sharing a lot of sick days.

“This time of year, we get a lot of strep throats, definitely some of the influenza, just the common cold, right? We’ve had a couple of cases of COVID,” Seebruck-Zellmer said.

Seebruck-Zellmer said staff also pay meticulous attention to hygiene, as they try to stay healthy through the respiratory virus season.

“We’re very vigilant about our hand washing, teaching kids how to wash their hands, how to cover their coughs, making sure that our toys are cleaned, sanitized on a regular basis. So we definitely anticipate in the next couple of months, we will be battling that probably until spring here,” Seebruck-Zellmer said.

Air purifiers have been installed at Bridges Child Enrichment Center to help stop the spread.

Seebruck-Zellmer said there’s been a gradual increase in reports of sickness at the center since the holidays.

“We had a lot of families and staff that were sick before Christmas, and we saw some of the more common stomach flu. We heard a lot of families that missed some of their holiday celebrations because they were sick,” Seebruck-Zellmer said.

Overall, health officials said more people in Outagamie County were sick during the holidays.

“It’s mostly been in all of our age groups here in Outagamie County,” David DeGrood said.

DeGrood is an epidemiologist with Outagamie County Public Health. He said, although fewer illness cases were reported last week than over the holidays, the community is not out of the woods just yet.

“I don’t make any predictions about what the future holds, because people are back in the office and back in school, and that usually means that numbers would start to tick up again. Right now, the big three are influenza, COVID-19 and RSV, but we do see the common cold circulating as well,” DeGrood said.

He said there has been a slight decline in illness numbers, despite just over 31% of its residents being vaccinated.