Businesses face losing more than 62 million working days and £6.6 billion in revenue this winter due to parents having to shelve work or leave the office to look after poorly children who’ve been sent home from school, experts say. The Uk is reported to be heading into a ‘perfect storm’ in late 2022 due to tumbling temperatures, annual flu surge, a potential mutation of new Covid variants and poor hygiene habits at family Christmas or social gatherings.
The winter months traditionally lead to a dramatic uplift in the number of children falling ill with bugs and viruses caught in class. But, according to new data from UK hygiene provider INEOS Hygienics, that will be compounded by an increasingly lax attitude to hand hygiene.
The research found that while 87 per cent of parents relay the importance of children washing their hands and sanitising regularly to keep bugs at bay, when kids get to school hygiene goes out of the window. And two thirds (59%) of those who took part said they feared things would be worse this year than they were last.
