School is back in session and the seasons are changing. It’s time to think ahead about how to best protect you and your family this cold and flu season.
“I think we should be thinking of the time frame of the Fall virus season, and that virus season goes essentially from September to May,” said Dr. Mike Woodruff, Executive Medical Director for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah.
Meaning, now is the time to act – protecting you and your family from influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 by getting vaccinated, which Regence Executive Medical Director Mike Woodruff said works twofold.
“They limit the spread of a virus, but they also decrease the severity of a virus and that’s really important for people who are either really young or on the older side or people who have health problems that might mean more severe disease like heart or lung problems or a compromised immune system,” said Woodruff.
Last year, Utah saw more than 1,500 hospitalizations due to the flu.
“It can be devastating. I think sometimes people are worried about the complications from vaccinations, and I want people to know that that’s been studied really really well, and in most cases, that’s extremely low risk,” said Woodruff.
He recommends flu shots for everyone in your family, but when it comes to cold season Woodruff said we need to go back to basics.
“There’s no vaccination for the common cold so we have to go back to those time tested strategies of washing our hands, isolating when we’re sick and maybe not sending the kids back to school right away when they’re sick, wearing a mask if you’re in a public spot and you’re coughing or sneezing,” said Woodruff.
Healthy eating and sleeping habits can also help boost your immunity to fight off many of these viruses or bounce back quickly.
But he recommends looking into the updated COVID-19 vaccination, he says can protect you even more from the latest strains of the virus.
“It’s definitely out there. And I think in terms of the potential severity, and even the risk of long term COVID, you’ve just got to decide if you want to take that chance or if you want to protect yourself as much as possible,” said Woodruff.
And that rings true when it comes to RSV.
“For most people that just gives you really mild cold like symptoms, but in the certain subset of the population it can be really really devastating and cause severe illness,” said Woodruff.
That impacts infants under the age of 8 months and for those 75 and older or with any underlying health conditions.
“So, the message there is talk to your doctor and see if that’s appropriate for you,” said Woodruff.