Yes, Flu Season Is Bad, But You're Still Nasty

According to data from the CDC, families are battling one of the worst flu seasons in the last 15 years. Doctors are seeing more infections, children and adults are sicker, and patients are experiencing complications that are serious or life-threatening.

Experts aren't entirely sure why the virus season is so bad, but they suspect a few factors, including the particular variants that are circulating and lower vaccination rates among kids.

In an interview with Healthline, Inderpal Randhawa, MD, medical director of the Pulmonary Institute at MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in California, says their practice has seen patients battling simultaneous viral infections like flu and RSV. "In these patients, the immune system is being overwhelmed by the back-to-back viruses,” Randhawa told the outlet.

Prevention is the same it's always been: get vaccinated, wear a mask, avoid crowds, and wash your hands. Which, according to a new survey, families are also struggling with.

A sampling of over 1,000 people points to an uptick in people using the restroom without washing their hands, with 77 percent of respondents saying they've witnessed this behavior. It's plain old nasty.

The survey from Bradley Company, a commercial and industrial plumbing manufacturer that's tracked restroom behavior for more than 15 years, shows that 45 percent of adults have confessed to simply rinsing and skipping soap. Kids aren't fairing any better, with a third of parents feeling their children don't wash their hands enough—so much for a first line of defense. Though, there is a bit of good news, with an overwhelming number of respondents reporting they are washing more carefully because of Flu and COVID outbreaks.

Flu season still hasn't peaked, so if the goal is to prevent it from invading your home, consider these hand washing do's and don'ts:

• Do use soap and water. Cold or hot water works, as long as it's clean.
• Do rub vigorously and scrub between fingers, and nails, and wash up to your wrists.
• Do count, washing your hands for 20-30 seconds. For toddlers, a slow version of the A-B-C's does the trick. Finish with "Now, I know my hands are clean. Won't you come and play with me!"
• Don't reserve hand washing for mealtime or potty breaks. Take the time to clean your hands before leaving public spaces like a library or recreation center, after an event, or suds up as soon as you get home.
• Don't solely rely on alcohol-based hand sanitizers. They aren't as effective as soap and water and don't work as well against norovirus or "viral stomach flu," which is a non-enveloped virus that has a shell to protect it from disinfectants.

If all else fails and you get sick, stay home to stop the spread. Read these

for kids to know when a viral infection becomes an emergency, stay safe, and maybe stop what you're doing right now and wash your hands.