by Elijah Taylor, staff writer
The months of October through May are often dreaded times of the year for their increased likelihood to contract the influenza virus, commonly known as “the Flu”, which has varying levels of severity which can leave you sick with slightly worse symptoms of the common cold, or hospitalized with the possibility of death.
While some Flu seasons are milder than others, there are usually still tens or hundreds of thousands of contractions of influenza each Flu season, and this year’s Flu season seems particularly bad.The lack of sunlight during the winter, groups of people confined to indoor spaces, and the colder and drier environment allowing the virus to survive longer are all factors in the seasons increased contraction rate.
Every Flu season has a different number of people who catch it, seeing in recent years a low of 140,000 Flu-related hospitalizations in the 2011-2012 Flu season, and a high of 710,000 Flu-related hospitalizations in the 2014-2015 Flu season. Granted, these are just the number of people hospitalized due to the Flu, there is very likely a large number of people who don’t visit a hospital when contracting influenza making these numbers even larger than they appear.
One very common method of influenza prevention is the Flu vaccine which works by injecting a small amount of the influenza virus into your body in order to have your body to create a familiarity to the virus in an attempt to build up your immune system. It takes around 10-14 days in order for your body to build an immunity to the virus.
Not all Americans get vaccinated, however, in fact, a little over half do not. Reasons many Americans do not get vaccinated could be that: some people may believe a Flu shot is unnecessary and they could just deal with it if they do contract the Flu, not wanting to pay money for something they think they may not need, or just being a skeptic of vaccines in general. However, the Flu vaccine usually only costs at most $30 dollars and are widely accessible at stores such as Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens. The cheap price and potential to avoid doctors visits and losing income from sick days at work alone are worth the minuscule price of a Flu shot.
The Flu vaccine is also not the only method of preventing the contraction and spread of the Flu. Other well-known ways like washing your hands frequently during these seasons, getting healthy amounts of sleep can strengthen your immune system, exercising regularly, avoid touching your face with your hands, and maintaining a good diet, can be very effective methods at staying healthy as well.
Most people who have had them in the past would probably tell you how miserable and ill influenza can make you. So, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the Flu by getting vaccinated and using the other common prevention methods to stay healthy during the Flu season.