It’s flu season and a relentless cough seems to be circulating around the school. This year’s seasonal influenza has seen record highs in both the affected civilians and fatality rates on a national scale.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website logistics, ¨This year the seasonal influenza proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illnesses (ILI) was 7.1%, which is above the national baseline of 2.2%. All ten regions reported ILI at or above the region-specific baseline level.¨

In an interview with Mrs. Gaida, the school nurse, she discusses how many flu cases she’s encountered so far this year at the high school.

Mrs. Gaida said, ¨We are not seeing as many cases. We get more call-in illnesses than kids coming to the office to be sent home.¨

She also said, ¨I keep a daily log and enter it into the computer system. If throughout the day, they come and see me. I make sure attendance is aware that I [have kids reported ill].¨

Fortunately for students, the flu epidemic doesn’t seem to have spread as much (compared to Illinois coverage) thankfully due to many people getting vaccinated and kids staying home when ¨they felt they got the bug.¨

Mrs. Gaida said, ¨I’m glad I got the flu vaccine because I can go to work daily, be present, and take care of our kids. I promote the flu vaccine to keep our kids healthy.¨

Some common symptoms of influenza are showing a high temperature, feeling achy, having a runny nose, a headache, etc. If any students feel these symptoms, they are encouraged to visit Mrs. Gaida for a check-up.

This still leaves the question about why the flu has been so bad this particular year.

¨The flu vaccine hasn’t met the strain of the flu as seen on the news. The question is how many people got vaccinated and are healthy and how many people got the vaccination and got the flu,¨ said Mrs. Gaida.

Mrs. Gaida promotes students to wash their hands vigorously on a daily basis, get the flu vaccine, and if a family member or friend (teammate/classmate) has the flu, they are encouraged to keep a safe distance and have this person quarantined to avoid the illness from spreading.

Students can reference the CDC website (www.CDC.gov) or look at informal pamphlets in doctors’ offices for more information regarding the flu.