"La rentrée" in the time of Covid: Changing norms around disease control

Early September is a special time in France. It has such an important place in the collective consciousness that we have a specific word for it — “la rentrée” — which evokes the return to normality after the long summer break (many French businesses simply close for weeks at a time in July and August).

There is always an unusual atmosphere, a buzz of excitement. Local shops and restaurants reopen for business. Children return to school euphoric with the thrill of seeing their friends again. People return to work after their holidays and renew relationships with bronzed colleagues that they sometimes haven’t seen for two months.

La rentrée is also synonymous with the return of the seasonal cold. Parents of young children in particular are exposed to massive viral loads of new strains that they don’t have antibodies for.

The timing of this year’s rentrée — with the difficulties posed by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the constantly changing protocols regarding masks, social distancing, testing, and quarantining — has caused me to reflect on the impact the pandemic will have on norms regarding the management of infectious diseases.

Obviously, everyone wants normal life to resume as quickly as possible, and hopefully, the epidemiological situation surrounding Covid-19 will soon be under control. What a joy it will be to go to a party, the cinema, the theatre, or the restaurant without fear; to embrace our loved ones without a second thought! These are all normal — vital — social activities that we have been deprived of for the better part of six months.

However, this period has also taught us a lot about infectious diseases, and I feel certain that, even when things return to “normal”, many people will naturally adopt some of the behaviours we have picked up during this trying time, like wearing a mask on public transport (which we are all used to now) and not shaking hands during flu season.

Another paradigm shift that I hope will occur in the coming months is a rejection of the absurd social pressure around going to work when you are ill. As mentioned above, the seasonal cold is a yearly phenomenon, and although most colds represent only a minor inconvenience, they sometimes deteriorate, resulting in throat or sinus infections that have a greater impact on our sleep, well-being, and general productivity.

The American Food and Drug Administration estimates that employers lose about 15 million workdays every year to the common cold in America alone, and up to 61 million lost workdays per year due to influenza, at a cost of about $87 billion. That cost is even higher if you take into account workdays lost by parents caring for sick children.

Many employees feel social, managerial or financial pressure to come to work when ill (or return to work too early), and yet people who return to work with the flu invariably contaminate their colleagues, increasing the total number of lost workdays by 10 to 30%. A greater understanding among the general public of when they are contagious — and an acceptance that going to work sick is not doing anyone any favours — could help to reduce the overall number of cold and flu cases we face every year.

The past few months have demonstrated that millions of people can work from home without too much difficulty, for a short period of time at least. Obviously, this is not true for all professions, so we need to create incentive structures that ensure they are not penalised for effectively protecting their colleagues. We can even take this logic further with staggered office hours, which would help to reduce crowding in public transport during rush hour.

With a combination of all these measures (as well as more widespread flu vaccination) — underpinned by a basic level of scientific literacy among the general population — we should be able to reduce the prevalence of seasonal colds and flu, and maybe even develop a sort of “turnkey pandemic response” that minimises the impact of future epidemics.