January and February are notorious for high rates of infectious diseases. Everything from COVID-19, influenza and norovirus to the bothersome common cold spread like wildfire, keeping people bedridden or worse — hospitalized. Universities in particular create the perfect conditions for disease transmission with so many people in regular close quarters. Sick season seems to be something we’ve all come to accept as inevitable, but maybe it doesn’t have to be.
Acting as though illness is unavoidable this season releases us of any responsibility for ourselves or our peers. While, of course, it is impossible to entirely eradicate disease, if we take precautions, we can greatly reduce the frequency of cases. For example, in a wide-scale effort by Yale University in 2021, masks were distributed across nearly 600 villages in Bangladesh alongside education on proper usage. The results show a clear reduction in cases of symptomatic COVID-19 infection, with those over 60 years old wearing surgical masks seeing a decrease of 35%.
Surgical masks are more effective than cloth masks, and N95 masks are the most effective, having been found to block 98% of infectious particles exhaled by the wearer. If you’ve just had the flu for a week or can’t stop coughing, you should be wearing a mask. You owe it to the people around you to protect them. This is neither a tall order nor a complicated request.
Of course, disease prevention goes beyond wearing masks. If you are sick, stay home. Going out into the world creates thousands of new opportunities to spread your germs, leaving them on door handles and coughing them into the air. Now, this also means professors should be understanding of sickness, and students should save free absences in case they do fall ill. Asking for a doctor’s note to prove a student has a fever accomplishes little beyond forcing someone outside while contagious. Similarly, employers — especially the University of Pittsburgh — should ensure that faculty and staff do not feel obligated to come to work ill. The more people stay home while contagious, the harder it is for disease to spread. Keep in mind that many infections remain contagious even after the most severe symptoms have ceased, so continue wearing a mask and washing your hands even once you start to feel better. In fact, norovirus can remain in feces for two weeks, so washing your hands after using the restroom is a must.
Hand-washing is perhaps the most well-known strategy for disease mitigation, hammered into us since kindergarten. Despite this, nearly half of adults in the U.S. admit to forgetting to wash their hands in key situations, with an even worse 20% saying they choose not to, citing lack of time or concerns about drying skin. Proper hand-washing, with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds, can help prevent approximately 80% of infectious diseases, including diseases like norovirus, which are relatively resistant to hand sanitizer. Surely, reducing devastating infections for yourself and your peers is worth using a little more moisturizer.
Wash your hands before eating or preparing food, after using the restroom, after being out at class or the grocery store, and especially after sneezing, coughing or cleaning up contaminated materials. Keeping surfaces clean and cleaning well after having been sick — especially in shared spaces like dorms — is vital. Remember that only products with bleach can effectively clean norovirus. When sick, have friends leave food and medicine at your door rather than venturing out. You can take advantage of Pitt’s Get Well Student Meals if you have an active campus meal plan, which uses your meal swaps to prepare meals that can be picked up by a friend at either The Eatery or The Perch.
Another key piece in the immunity puzzle is getting vaccinated. The flu vaccine is between 40% and 60% effective — depending on the year — and functions best when more people are vaccinated. A momentary needle prick is not as bad a price to pay as a week of debilitating sickness.
If we all work together and take proper accountability for illnesses, we can vastly reduce the amount of disease this sick season. You should care if you get sick, and you should care if your friends get sick. By reducing the spread of illness, we can stay on top of work and make more memories with the people we love, but we can also decrease much more serious effects. The CDC estimates that there have been at least 230,000 hospitalizations and 9,300 deaths from flu so far this season. This is deeper than feeling crappy for a couple of days. You are responsible for keeping your community safe, healthy and alive.
The Pitt News editorial is a weekly article written by the opinion editors in collaboration with other desk editors. It reflects the collective opinion of the current Pitt News editorial staff.