Just as the pandemic fears started to wane, we were hit by what media and public health officials deemed a "tripledemic" — a trifecta of viruses (RSV, flu, and new COVID-19 variants) all circling simultaneously. For parents with kids in schools, this was a nightmare: like any congregate setting, schools are veritable petri dishes, and children tend to be worse at practicing good protective measures for their health compared to adults.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics found that sick kids were keeping hundreds of thousands of parents home from work. Children's hospitals were reportedly filled to capacity and strained healthcare systems.
