Flu Season is Here: Steps You Can Take to Help Avoid the Flu

Here are a few tips from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to help you avoid the flu and prevent its spread.

Your best defensive strategy is an offense.

The key to flu prevention is three-fold:

Wash your hands frequently. Use soap and water or an alcohol-based hand cleanser. This is especially important after touching surfaces that an infected person has touched and after coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose.
Hands off! Avoid touching surfaces that someone else who may have been exposed to the flu has touched.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people, especially if they are coughing or sneezing.

Other Steps You Can Take

Maintain a healthy lifestyle with rest, diet, exercise and relaxation.
Avoid touching your nose, mouth and eyes. This is how germs spread.
Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or, if a tissue is not handy, use your elbow/sleeve. Throw away your used tissues right away.
Don't use your co-workers' stuff (phones, desks, offices or other work tools and equipment). If you need to use a co-worker's items, clean them first and then again after use.
If you are sick with flu symptoms, stay home. Avoiding social contact situations is the best way to help prevent the spread of the flu. Symptoms of flu include fever and cough or sore throat, in addition to runny nose, chills, body aches, headaches, tiredness, diarrhea or vomiting. You should remain at home for at least 24 hours after your fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.8 degrees Celsius or above) is gone, or for at least 3 days (whichever is longer). Your temperature should be normal without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.