Along with winter comes everyone’s favorite season, cold and flu season. Doctors offices are filling up and schools are emptying.
While the flu can be caught at any time of the year, it’s more common to catch it in the colder months, like January or February. Not only is the immune system weakened by the cold, but the cold, dry air allows germs to better travel. In fact, in a Mayo Clinic Minute article titled, “Why do people get sick with viruses in the winter?” author DeeDee Stiepan explained, “That’s because cilia, which are small, hairlike projections in the upper respiratory tract that usually move foreign objects out of your nose, don’t function as well during the cooler temperatures and lower humidity.” It’s not like the germs would need to travel far, because the cold weather usually keeps people inside.
All it takes to spread is one cough or sneeze, and because of allergies during the colder months, coughing and/or sneezing is pretty common. Although taking medicine and staying warm are good remedies to cure sickness, St. Louis High School students must protect themselves and others from spreading germs with proper hygiene. So it’s important to remember as a collective to wash hands constantly throughout the day. A common cold is a viral infection in the upper respiratory tract. According to cdf.gov in their article “About Common Cold,” “Viral infections are also one of the most frequent reasons for missed school and work.” The recent outbreak is both frustrating to teachers and to their students. As the teachers have to slow lessons down to get people caught up, the students who are sick now have to make up their work.
Junior Sophia Miller shared, “I’ve been sick quite a few times this year. I don’t have a very good immune system and getting sick caused me to miss school often. I have been able to keep my grades up, but others in my situation might struggle more to do the same.”
