Source: Journal of Urgent Care Medicine
When you live in dorms with many students, the change of season from summer to fall means one thing: cold and flu season. For the next few months, you can hear coughing and people blowing their noses all around campus. So how can you avoid getting sick this season? Here are a few recommendations from Nurse Marge:
- Open your dorm window to increase air circulation.
- Wash your hands with soap and water and/or use hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth as much as possible.
- Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow.
- Stay away from people when you are sick.
- When cleaning your room, disinfect high-touch areas like doorknobs, keyboards, and cell phones.
- Get your flu shot.
- Consider wearing a mask when you are sick and need to be around a lot of people.
Northwood is prepared for cold and flu season. The annual flu shot clinic was held on October 14th for students who signed up. The washrooms are ready with soap and water, and hand sanitizer is available throughout campus. There is also an infirmary with five private rooms if you get extremely ill.
Students who feel like they have cold or flu symptoms can see Nurse Maher at the Student Health Center for help. Nurse Maher suggests if you have the following symptoms, “feeling very tired, having a high fever, headache, dry cough, sore throat, runny nose and sore muscles are all signs to come see me at the nurse’s office.” There is a supply of over-the-counter medications available to students to alleviate their symptoms, such as cough drops, Tylenol, Advil, Emergen-C, Mucinex and nasal spray. If you are extremely sick and live in the dorms, you may be put on a sick day and must remain in your room or in the infirmary to rest and recover.
While the goal is to stay healthy this fall, it is not unusual for illnesses to spread through the dorms and across sports teams. Take precautions where you can, but if you do get sick, there are supports in place to help you feel better soon. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
