It’s flu season…take precautions

Published 9:18 am Wednesday, February 15, 2017

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is reporting that Tennessee has a widespread outbreak of the flu right now.

Multiple school districts in Tennessee have had to close in recent days for illness, the majority in East Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.

We reported in Tuesday’s paper that Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance are asking the public “to refrain from visiting local hospitals if they are not feeling well” as they work to prevent further flu outbreaks.

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Prior to implementing restricted visitation, Wellmont and Mountain States hospitals were already employing a number of other precautions, including providing masks at each entrance and registration area and designating separate waiting areas for patients experiencing fever or respiratory symptoms.

The CDC says getting an annual flu vaccine is the first and best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu.

Flu vaccination can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations, the agency advises. Back in the fall before this year’s flu season began, health officials simply couldn’t predict how serious it would become. Instead, they issued their annual appeal for people to get themselves vaccinated as a precaution.

While many heeded the warning, there apparently were many who did not. That isn’t surprising, as generally about half of the American public does not get a flu vaccine. Every year, there’s an estimated 200,000 people in the United States who are hospitalized because of complications from the flu and an average of 30,000 people who die from it. About 80 percent of those deaths were people over the age of 60.

It might be time to rethink that decision.

The more people who get vaccinated, the more people will be protected from flu, including older people, very young children, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions who are more vulnerable to serious flu complications.

Most people who get the flu will have mild illness, will not need medical care or antiviral drugs, and will recover in less than two weeks.

Some people, however, are more likely to get flu complications that can result in hospitalization and sometimes worse.

Be smart. This is not the year to say “I don’t need a flu shot.” If you haven’t gotten one, do so. And even if you have, you should still practice the common sense practical protection behaviors such as:

• Wash your hands. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hands rub.

• Don’t shake hands.

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. If you do not have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your sleeve.

• Avoid contact with people who are clearly ill.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.

• If you are sick, seek medical advice and avoid spreading the virus.

• Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that are touched often. Most students have shown that the flu virus can live and potentially infect a person for up to 48 hours.   

Parents, be extra vigilant about your kids washing their hands. Don’t treat the flu like a bad cold. Treat it like a potentially life-threatening illness. That is what it is.