How to Protect Your School During Flu Season

Research is pointing toward a severe flu season this winter. Turns out, the 2025-2026 flu vaccine is not a great match for the unexpected strain of influenza A/H3N2 that swept the southern hemisphere. Called subcladeK, this strain is driving infection in Canada, England, and Japan.

And now it’s here in the U.S.

Even though there is a mismatch, the flu vaccine still offers the best protection against serious illness and hospitalization. But only if you get the jab. Unfortunately, vaccine rates are down eight percent this year.

Which puts janitors directly on the front line when it comes to protecting health. This winter, cleaning to prevent flu will be extra important. Here’s how your cleaning program can protect students, faculty, and staff from catching and spreading this highly contagious respiratory illness.

The Cost of Missing School

Missing school hurts students, teachers, and the bottom line. Chronic absenteeism, where students miss at least ten percent of school days per year, already plagues districts throughout the country. Adding in more lost days due to illness makes a bad problem worse.

That’s because missed instruction time impacts student learning. When teachers miss school, it interrupts classroom flow and costs money in engaging substitutes. Absenteeism also costs some school districts millions in lost funding.

The good news is a well-executed, evidence-based cleaning program can actually reduce absenteeism due to illness. And this year, that will be more important than ever.

Cleaning Schools So Students Thrive During Flu Season

Using an evidence-based cleaning approach will better protect everyone in your buildings during flu season. Evidence-based cleaning incorporates measurable outcomes, validated products, and data-backed processes. The process includes:

• Identifying high-risk and high-touch areas
• Validating cleaning protocols
• Training cleaning staff
• Integrating a hand hygiene program

Kaivac can help your school design, develop, or further an evidence-based approach. Your facilities team can start by evaluating the current cleaning program and see where improvement is needed. This evaluation framework is a good place to start.

Then come to Kaivac for the implementation piece. Our cleaning machines, like the No-Touch Cleaning® system, remove 99% of targeted bacteria using water alone. You can check cleaning completeness with Kaivac measurement technology.

And Kaivac takes training programs to the next level. From a comprehensive training video library, to live team training, to the KaiNect™ app, our training platforms help every kind of learner master Kaivac equipment.

Click here for communication resources that educate your school community about the importance of cleaning. Click here to learn more about Kaivac tools and processes and empower your janitorial team during flu season and beyond.