Since temperatures began to drop, the flu has become increasingly common among the SIS community. However, since the past month, things took a turn as influenza type A and type B have become prevalent at the same time. SIS students and faculty have been infected as well, with symptoms such as a cough and runny nose being frequent.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced that there are three types of influenza disease circulating type B and two variants of type A. Whereas type A influenza was common earlier this winter, more people are now diagnosed with type B. Due to the change in influenza trends, those who were previously infected with type A have been re-diagnosed with type B.

“I have noticed a slight trend in school where there has been an increase in people with the influenza virus,” Luke Seo (10), a recent influenza contractor, said. “This has affected me as I have caught the virus, and this has resulted in lots of pain and suffering.”

Many students and faculties at SIS have been sick recently. Whilst some were infected with COVID-19 earlier in January, there have been more cases of influenza among students. 

“I have seen many flu-related symptoms amongst my peers,” Sylvia Lee (10), a student at SIS, said. “Having the flu affects my functionality which would make it harder to study and focus on extracurriculars.”

Influenza symptoms include fever, coughing, sore throat, headaches, stuffy nose, and muscle aches. This particular virus is known to be a more extreme version of the flu. Therefore, students infected with the virus are more likely to face difficulty with their studies and extracurricular activities such as sports.

“I have seen an increase in students that have missed class because of influenza. I have had a couple of students hospitalized,” Steve Nave, world history teacher and the coach for JV girls basketball, said. “I also know a few teachers who have had to miss a couple of days of school due to being diagnosed with influenza. As for basketball, I was lucky as none of my players got the flu during the season. However, when we played SFS earlier in the season they had second players out due to the flu. So it definitely has an impact on both school and sports.”