It is a familiar feeling all students dread: waking up to an unwelcome sore throat, fever, chills; the general foreboding feeling of illness. Always at the most inconvenient times, with homework and responsibilities inevitable throughout your day, it becomes more and more impossible to envision making it to classes in these conditions…
Shortly after this semester started, students began to notice a steady uptick in their friends and classmates coming down with the flu. While flu season is a staple of college student life, the rapid and overwhelming number of students contracting the virus this semester was particularly notable around campus.
With class numbers dwindling, it became clear around campus that this flu season was ranking up a surprising amount of numbers. Kendra Keith, FNP-C, Director of Health Services at Priesthill, noted that, while there were surprisingly no positive cases of the flu before winter break, sickness quickly became more prevalent upon the return to campus in January. She lists the flu, as well as “COVID, colds, and stomach viruses,” as all contributing to the growing number of sick students.
Keith said, “Though this is the nature of the season, we have seen high numbers of flu, specifically, in the last 3 weeks, and we understand there are many others affected of whom we are unaware. Unfortunately, we even ran out of flu tests twice due to the influx of sickness.”
Since this flu season has seen a large amount of sickness among students around campus, it’s important to be reminded of the importance of safe and effective hygiene practices. This will allow students to help keep friends, classmates, and professors from getting sick and continuing the spread.
Keith encourages students to go “back to the basics when it comes to health promotion with quality hand hygiene, maintaining adequate hydration, and ensuring intake of regular, well-balanced meals. For anyone feeling under the weather, we encourage them to go to Health Services' page at covenant.edu for recommendations for symptom management.”
Health Services’ page encourages students who are sick to take the proper medications, fluids, rest, and other additional homeopathic symptom relievers, such as Vicks Vapor Shower Tablets or Elderberry supplements, to assist in a timely recovery. While students are sick, they are also reminded to keep isolated to help manage the spread of the virus, especially at this time while flu cases are far more prevalent around campus.
If you do get overwhelmed by illness and you are struggling to stay on top of work, remember that the Student Success Center is always available to help you negotiate with professors and get caught up on classwork if you need additional support.
While flu season is an expected part of college life, it’s always important to care well for the health of those around campus, whether students, faculty or staff, and help minimize the spread of sickness.