Experts have been predicting a bad flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, and, at least on the Wingate campus, those predictions have proved true so far this fall.
“There’s no doubt we’re seeing more flu than we have in the past three years, and very early,” says Sherrie McCaskill, director of the Health Center. “Our first cases we actually saw back in September. Generally we don’t see a lot of cases until right when we come back from winter break.”
The Health Center has already recorded 26 cases of influenza this fall, compared with zero cases between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31 the past four years. With most of the United States opened back up with few mask restrictions, people are now more susceptible to picking up other viruses. “People’s immune systems are kind of having to build back up,” McCaskill says.
Rebecca Faust, a junior majoring in public health, has seen the effects of the flu up close. She works as a technician in an urgent-care clinic in Monroe four days a week, and she said the office has been treating several flu cases each day. Most of those afflicted have been young people.
“It did come early this year, and it is bad,” she says. “Every day this past week, just when I’ve been there we’ve had at least three, and they’ve all been under the age of 25. They’re coming in with very, very high fevers.”
Faust and McCaskill both urge students and employees to consider getting their flu shot. Traditionally, a low percentage of undergraduate students get vaccinated.
“All of the graduate programs are heavily vaccinated, driven by their clinical sites requiring that,” McCaskill says. “For undergraduate students, I would say the numbers are not so good.”
Because the flu mutates over time, it’s important, McCaskill says, to get a flu shot every year, in order to build up immunity to multiple strains. The flu vaccine provides protection for about six months, which means that anyone who gets a vaccine now will be covered during January and February, when the flu season normally peaks.
Undergraduate students especially are at risk, because they tend to live in close quarters with other students. Those who get the flu could find themselves struggling to catch up on their schoolwork.
“The flu is very contagious, and students who live on campus should definitely consider getting the vaccine, because if you get the flu, that pretty much takes you out of class for about a week,” McCaskill says.
Flu shots are free for employees; students’ shots are filed with their insurance company, and most insurance plans cover the cost of vaccines 100 percent. The Health Center is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. To learn more and to make an appointment, visit the Health Center page of the Wingate website.
Original source can be found here
Alerts Sign-up