The New Exponent

by Sarah Roy
Staff Advisor

Fall is in the air. I know you can just picture it: beautiful leaves, snuggling into your favorite jacket, maybe even a hay ride or a trip to the corn maze. But fall also means that the flu is back.

We have been hearing a lot on the news about H1N1 or “swine flu” as many people call it. No doubt everyone is eager to avoid catching it, but the best way to avoid it is by practicing the same health precautions you should use to stay healthy all the time. Dean Mashburn recently shared these tips from the CDC for avoiding these germs, and you may have seen similar signs around campus. Follow these and you’ll have a much better chance of avoiding all the misery and missed homework that comes with fall flu season.

Wash your hands! Really, we all learned this in kindergarten. You can even sing a song to help you out. The bottles of hand sanitizer that are all around campus are also a great way to stop germs.

Cover your coughs and sneezes! You don’t want other people sneezing on you, right? So do everyone else the same favor. If you don’t have a tissue to sneeze into, use your arm or elbow so you don’t get germs on your hands.

Wash your hands! You can even sing a song to help you out.

Clean up! Make sure you clean doorknobs, bathrooms, counters, keyboards and mice, and even your remote control on a regular basis. This is especially important if you are sharing a dorm or house with other people.

If you have a condition that might make you more vulnerable to flu, check with your doctor to see if you should get vaccinated. There will be a flu shot clinic on campus Tuesday, October 6. (Contact Marsha Zaleta for more details on that.)

If you are sick, stay home until your fever has been gone for a whole day. Yes, all day. Sure, you’re worried about missing too many classes, practices, and club meetings, but nobody will like it if you infect the rest of the campus. Also, you shouldn’t try to go back to doing everything at once when you felt gross just a couple hours ago.

For more information on the flu, check out  http://www.cdc.gov/flu and www.flu.gov

For information on the H1N1 flu, see www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu