What You Can Do!

With so much sickness and illness going around this fall and winter, the Kansas Health Foundation stands with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and partners across the state in supporting three simple steps to keep Kansans healthy this year.

• Mask Up: Cover your nose and mouth with a mask when out in public. Masks offer some protection to you and are also meant to protect those around you, in case you are unknowingly infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Masks should still be worn in addition to staying at least 6 feet apart.
• Lather Up: Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. Scientific studies show that you need to scrub for 20 seconds to remove harmful germs and chemicals from your hands. If you don’t have soap and water, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Sleeve Up: Roll up your sleeve to get a flu shot. No one has time for flu. Make time to roll your sleeve up and get your flu vaccine this fall. Help protect yourself, your loved ones, and [our community] from flu and its potentially serious complications.

Below, you can learn more about the flu, how it differs from COVID-19, and why it’s so important to get a flu vaccination this year.

Overview: What is the flu?

Influenza (flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that occur in the annual flu season. It can cause mild to severe illness. Serious outcomes of flu infection can result in hospitalization or death.

Most experts believe that flu viruses spread mainly by tiny droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk.

Getting a flu vaccine and taking steps to reduce the spread of the virus are more important than ever during 2020-2021 to protect yourself and the people around you from flu, and to help reduce the strain on healthcare systems responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What are the symptoms of the flu?

Influenza (flu) can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. Flu is different from a cold. Flu usually comes on suddenly. People who have flu often feel some or all of these symptoms:

• fever (not everyone with the flu with have a fever) or feeling feverish/chills
• cough
• sore throat
• runny or stuffy nose
• muscle or body aches
• headaches
• fatigue (tiredness)
• some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

Getting vaccinated reduces your chances of getting the flu and can lessen the severity if you are infected.

Who should get a flu shot?

Everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every season with rare exceptions. Vaccination is particularly important for people who are at high risk of serious complications from influenza. More information about the flu shot itself can be found here.

When should you get a flu shot?

Here are helpful guidelines to follow for the timing of a flu shot:

• Vaccine should be administered by the end of October.
• It takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against flu.
• Vaccination should continue to be offered throughout the flu season, even into January or later.

<!– Flu Vaccine Finder Widget !–>

Where can you get a flu shot?

Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), please use the “Vaccine Finder” box to the right for options of where to get a flu shot near you.

What is the difference between the flu, a cold, allergies or COVID-19?

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has produced this helpful infographic to help you distinguish which illness you may have at any given time. View infographic.

How can you stop the spread of the flu?

Take these steps to help avoid spreading the flu this season:

• If you are sick – stay home! If you have a fever, stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever is gone (without using fever-reducing medicine).
• Wear a mask to reduce the spread of germs!
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
• Throw used tissues in the trash.
• If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow, not your hands.
• Wash your hands!  This is especially true after you cough or sneeze. Hand washing should be done for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol to clean hands.

Additional Resources:

Flu fact sheets:

• Flu guide for parents
• Strong defense against the flu
• What to do if you get the flu

Downloadable posters:

• Clean hands keep you healthy
• Wash your hands with soap and water
• Cover your cough and sneeze

You can also access fact sheets from as many as 12 different languages, courtesy of the CDC.

Articles:

If you’re interested in learning more about the flu and how to prevent it, KHF has compiled a list of articles from sources across the country:

• Fearing a ‘Twindemic,’ Health Experts Push Urgently for Flu Shots (New York Times)
• 2020 Flu Shot Strategy: Get Yours Early In The Season (National Public Radio)
• Preparing for the Worst, Health Agencies Mount Unprecedented Flu Shot Drives (Pew Charitable Trusts)
• This might be your most important flu shot ever (CNN)
• Here’s why medical professionals say it’s even more important to get the flu shot this year (Lawrence Journal-World)
• Getting Children Flu Shots Is Even More Important This Year (New York Times)
• COVID-19 could overwhelm hospitals, KC doctors warn, as schools open, flu season nears (Kansas City Star)
• CDC director: Push is on to vaccinate 65% of Americans against flu (American Medical Association)
• States confront new Covid-19 challenge: Getting flu shots to apathetic Americans (Politico)
• Covid-19: A bad flu season colliding with the pandemic could be overwhelming (Washington Post)
• Time for flu shots – getting one is more important than ever! (Harvard Medical School)