Staying Healthy During Flu Season
University of Arizona Community IPM
Jan. 13, 2020
- Current 2019-nCoV (2019 novel coronavirus) Information
- View/Print Complete Article - "Unfortunate Facts About the Flu ( Influenza Viruses)"
How can we determine if we have a cold or flu, or a bacterial or viral infection?
People who have the flu often feel some or all of these symptoms:
- Fever (not everyone with flu will have a fever)
- Chills
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Muscle or body aches
- Headaches
- Fatigue (tiredness)
- Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.
Good health habits minimize flu:
- Flu is still widespread in most states, and it is not too late to get vaccinated.
- Stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. This will help prevent others from catching your illness. Managers please support staff who need to stay home.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick or who have chronic illnesses. Teachers and staff managers, please accommodate students and workers keeping up with schoolwork or work projects from home as much as possible.
- If you are ill cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough, sneeze or talk. Throw the tissue away immediately after use and wash your hands with soap and water. If a tissue is not available, cover your mouth and nose with your sleeve, or the crook of your elbow. This has been named the “vampire sneeze”, and catches on well with young children. If you cover your mouth and nose with your hands, wash them immediately.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze.
- Give children the opportunity to wash their hands and encourage children to wash their hands effectively
- Rinse hands and arms up to the elbows
- Apply soap and lather for at least 20 seconds (sing the Happy Birthday song twice) cleaning hands, arms, and fingernails
- Dry with a paper towel. NEVER have children use disinfectant wipes as hand sanitizer
wipes, these are two very different things.
- Give children the opportunity to wash their hands and encourage children to wash their hands effectively
- Avoid touching your face, especially eyes, nose, or mouth. Encourage children to avoid touching their own or others’ faces.
- Clean and disinfect surfaces or objects. This is a job for adults, who can accurately use products correctly following all the steps necessary as provided on the label.
Five important things to know as you combat the flu
1.) Know the difference between cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing
- Cleaning removes some germs, debris, and dirt from surfaces or objects. Soap and water significantly improves the physical removal of germs from surfaces.
- Disinfecting kills germs on surfaces or objects. Disinfecting alone will not clean dirty surfaces but disinfecting after cleaning further lowers the risk of spreading infectious germs. Disinfectant wipes are registered pesticides as they are designed to kill, or inactivate microbes.
- Sanitizing lowers the number of viable germs on surfaces or objects to safe levels, determined by public health requirements.
2.). Clean surfaces and objects that are touched often.
- Daily sanitize surfaces and objects that are touched often, such as desktops, countertops, door handles, computer mouse and keyboards, faucets, and phones.
- Use gloves when handling surfaces and items contaminated with bodily fluids, and throw soiled items away after proper disinfection when appropriate.
- The flu virus can remain in an infectious form on a surface for up to 48 hours. It is not necessary to close work places, childcare facilities or schools to clean or disinfect because of flu. If facilities are closed due to staff shortages or student absenteeism during a flu outbreak, it is not necessary to do extra cleaning and disinfecting. The passage of time and normal cleaning and disinfection practices are sufficient to remove or kill flu viruses.
3.) Always follow label directions on cleaning products and disinfectants.
- Wash surfaces with a detergent to remove dirt.
- Rinse with water.
- Apply an EPA-registered disinfectant that is approved to kill influenza virus, following label directions exactly. Disinfection usually requires the product to remain on the surface for a certain period of time (e.g., letting it stand for 3 to 5 minutes), and may need to be removed with clean water. Follow label directions exactly.
4.) Understand product safety warnings.
- Products have specific directions on labels and hazard warnings. Chemically protective gloves and eye protection is advisable and may be legally required if stipulated on the label.
- Never allow children to use disinfectants or disinfectant wipes.
- Do not mix detergents with disinfectants unless the label explicitly states that it is safe to do so. Combining products can result in serious injury or death. Mixing chlorine bleach and ammonia cleaners produces a lethal chlorine gas. Commonly used products contain bleach (hypochlorite) and ammonia e.g., toilet bowl cleaners often contain bleach, and window cleaners often contain ammonia.
- Ensure that anyone using cleaners and disinfectant products have access to product labels in a familiar language, and have read and understand the labels.
5.) Know how to handle solid waste.
- Follow standard institutional procedures for handling waste, which may include wearing gloves. Place no-touch wastebaskets where they are easy to use. Avoid touching used tissues when emptying wastebaskets, or wear gloves if tissues must be handled. Wash your hands with soap and water after processing waste and dispose of gloves.
- Stay home if you are a sick and work as a food handler. Influenza viruses from sick food workers can contaminate food if workers do not wash their hands properly, cough, sneeze, or talk over food that will not be cooked (e.g., salads or sandwiches). People who eat contaminated food can then get sick.
Helpful Resources
- CDC websites
- General flu information - https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/index.html
- Information for Schools & Childcare Providers - https://www.cdc.gov/flu/school/index.htm
- National Pesticide Information Center http://npic.orst.edu/health/readlabel.html
- Washington State University- https://schoolipm.wsu.edu/microorganisms/
- Antimicrobial products - http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/antimicrobials.html