This year the flu season is affecting attendance all throughout the school. Tissues can be a vital part to provide comfort and sanitary conditions for students to focus on class. 

Flu season has hit Chagrin Falls particularly hard this year, with some students noting a large number of people absent from class due to sickness throughout December. Junior Oliver Tepper has definitely noticed some of these absences.

“I think there has been a lot of sick people in the last month, including me,” said Tepper.

A significant number of students coming down with some sort of sickness, combined with the fact that some classrooms have no tissues at all, is concerning. Additionally, Senior Julian Seese has also taken note of absent students. Seese claimed sometimes students are missing from his classes.

 Senior Max Fossaceca has also noted an unfortunate lack of attendance due to the flu season.

“I’ve definitely been seeing a lot more people sick. I’ve been seeing a lot more people sniffling in class and a lot more empty chairs. I definitely think there’s something going around or multiple things going around,” said Fossaceca. 

To add to this, there is potential for it to become uncomfortable if there are no tissues in a classroom, which may affect focus as well.

“I’d definitely consider it a sanitary concern, Also not to mention it’s also kind of uncomfortable not being able to blow your nose. You aren’t able to focus in class as much either if you can’t blow your nose and breathe right,” said Fossaceca. 

“When people are unable to blow their noses, their noses make loud noises,” said Tepper.

Some good news is that some students have it better than others. 

“I have not noticed a shortage of tissues,” said Tepper.

Although some students have not noticed a shortage of tissues, it would be preferable if all classrooms had tissues, along with hand sanitizer, available for students.