The polar vortex has abated (at least for the time being), but flu season is far from over. By now, mid-January, many of my colleagues have fallen ill and been confined at home with chicken soup and Netflix. This has been a bad year for the flu, in part because this year's vaccine hasn't been as effective as hoped. What's the economic toll of all those hours workers are spending in bed? It's tough to calculate, but two often quoted numbers point to significant losses: One 2007 study estimated that the flu costs approximately $7 billion in lost productivity, with 111 million workdays lost.
