Facts and Tips to Survive Flu Season

Here are some facts and tips that might help you to survive the flu season.

Facts

Most diseases are spread through hand contact.

Every three minutes, a child brings his/her hand to nose or mouth.
Every 60 seconds, a working adult touches as many as 30 objects.

The biggest sources of spreading diseases are shared surfaces.

Door handles
Phones
Computer keyboards

Many people try to stifle their sneezes by covering their nose/mouth area with their hands. They then handle as many as 30 objects within 60 seconds of that sneeze. Please sneeze into your sleeve.

Hand washing is the single most important procedure for preventing the spread of infection (CDC). Military studies show that after basic training, cadets were ordered to wash their hands 5 times a day; disease incidence fell by more than 50%.

Tips

Proper Hand Washing Technique

Wet hands with warm water
Apply soap
Scrub hands together vigorously for 15-20 seconds (using ABC’s or Happy/Birthday two times)
Rinse with warm running water
Dry with paper towel or automatic dryer

Alcohol-Based Hand Gels

May be used to complement hand washing with soap and water (62% or higher of ethanol content)

Clean Surface Areas

Clean work surfaces on a regular basis; especially shared areas.

Social Distancing

If you have a fever of 101 degrees or higher, stay home.

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