Recent surveillance data show that the percentage of people with influenza-like illnesses (cough, fever, and sore throat) is rising sharply (CDC). As this respiratory virus season ramps up, communities across the country, particularly infants, young children, and older adults, remain vulnerable to severe illness.

Basic infection prevention practices, including consistent hand hygiene, remain critical to reducing the spread of respiratory viruses in healthcare, childcare, and community settings.

Why Local Health Departments Need to Act

• High burden: Respiratory viruses continue to cause hospitalizations and illness, highlighting the need for proactive prevention.
• Protecting staff and residents: Healthcare facilities, long-term care, clinics, schools, and childcare programs benefit when staff follow hand hygiene protocols consistently.
• Local leadership matters: Local health departments (LHDs) are uniquely positioned to train facility staff and other community partners, translating evidence-based prevention strategies into practical, actionable programs that protect the broader community.

Introducing: Hand Hygiene Training Activities & Resources

To support LHDs this season, NACCHO is releasing a one-page resource, Hand Hygiene Training Activities & Resources. This toolkit provides ready-to-use presentations, hands-on activities, audit tools, and job aids that help LHDs train healthcare facility staff and other community partners to:

• Reinforce proper hand hygiene technique
• Monitor compliance and identify areas for improvement
• Engage staff and partners in infection-prevention efforts

Additional Respiratory Season Resources

• Infection Prevention Quick Guide: Influenza – A practical checklist that includes long-term care facility resident placement, transmission-based precautions, environmental cleaning and disinfection, communication, clinical management, active surveillance, employee health, and respiratory etiquette.
• Infection Prevention Training Activity – Clean Stations = Safe Patients:  Designed for long-term care facilities, this training encourages stronger infection control practices through a friendly competition between nurses’ stations. It builds on CDC Project Firstline’s Nurses Station Interactive Scenario.

CDC Project Firstline’s Respiratory Diseases Resources

• Respiratory Viruses Factsheet: key infection control actions to stop spread.
• Infection Control for Respiratory Viruses Infographic: how specific actions interrupt transmission.
• Respiratory System Infographic: how germs spread and how to prevent it.

Acknowledgment: The hand hygiene and respiratory season training activities and resources featured here are derived from deliverables submitted by LHDs through NACCHO’s Adaptation of Project Firstline Tools and Resources project.

Whether used for quick staff trainings, facility audits, or community outreach, these tools help LHDs take immediate, practical action to strengthen hand hygiene and reduce virus spread across facilities and communities.

How to Use These Resources

• Conduct short demonstrations or training activities for healthcare facility staff, school staff, or community partners using the hand hygiene activities and other respiratory season training tools.
• Deploy audit checklists and compliance trackers to monitor and sustain hygiene practices across facilities.
• Incorporate job aids and hand hygiene or respiratory guides and infographics into onboarding, ongoing education, or community programs.
• Combine hand hygiene efforts with broader respiratory season strategies, such as environmental cleaning, respiratory etiquette, and surveillance, to maximize protection for residents, staff, and the wider community.

Bottom Line

As respiratory viruses circulate, LHDs remain on the front lines. By training healthcare facility staff and community partners, implementing practical hand hygiene activities and leveraging respiratory season resources, LHDs can strengthen infection prevention efforts, protect vulnerable populations, and support safer facilities and communities.

Download the hand hygiene one-pager today and start implementing these ready-to-use tools in your health department’s education with community partners.