{"id":3566,"date":"2018-01-29T15:25:22","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T20:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/?p=3566"},"modified":"2020-01-14T17:22:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T22:22:40","slug":"fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot","title":{"rendered":"Fighting the Flu Requires More Than a Flu Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Staying well in winter isn\u2019t just about getting a flu shot. There are many reasons for employers to approach flu\/illness prevention holistically. Many viruses, not just influenza, can cause workplace illness during the cooler months. Because the flu vaccine has variable effectiveness, even in the best of times, encourage your employees to <em>do more<\/em> and <em>have a plan with a provider if they get sick<\/em> despite getting vaccinated. Here are some ways you can help your employees take charge of their health.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spotlight\/facilitate hygiene<\/strong>:&nbsp; A single cough or sneeze spreads infectious droplets several feet into the air in all directions.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Consider posting reminders and strategic signage to help everyone remember hygiene basics, such as \u201cCover your cough\u201d Or \u201cWash your hands or use hand sanitizer after blowing your nose or coughing.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Provide easy access to soap and hand sanitizer at work\u2014this encourages employees to wash and sanitize.<\/li>\n<li>Viruses can be picked up from surfaces too, so recommend that employees disinfect\/clean shared objects, such as phones, that may be contaminated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Keep a distance:&nbsp;<\/strong>It\u2019s wise to stay away from people who are sick. Policies allowing sick time can encourage employees to take needed time to get healthy, discourage disease transmission, and reduce presenteeism. Influenza can be spread from a day before symptoms arrive to 5-7 days after getting sick; other viruses are usually contagious for approximately a week. If an employee is sick, expect them to stay home until 24 hours after fever is gone or as a doctor directs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take antiviral medicine when appropriate<\/strong>: Most respiratory illnesses don\u2019t respond to antibiotics or antiviral medication.<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> Flu diagnosis and taking anti-viral medication (Oseltamivir or Zanamivir) especially within 2 days of getting the flu can shorten illness and prevent serious complications or a hospital stay for people who are very sick or at risk of complications. &nbsp;Encouraging health literacy around common illnesses and the proper role of antibiotics helps improve health and control costs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Know when to get care:<\/strong>&nbsp; If your organization offers our Health Advocacy service to your employees or members, Health Advocate can connect them to providers, support those with chronic conditions to plan for care, as well as provide flu vaccine (for clients who purchase flu shots). Encourage your employees to call Health Advocate to find a primary care provider, if they don\u2019t already have one. It\u2019s wise for employees to be proactive and plan with their provider about the flu ahead of time whenever possible.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/3686-gross-science-cough-sneeze.html\">https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/3686-gross-science-cough-sneeze.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/healthywater\/hygiene\/etiquette\/coughing_sneezing.html\">https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/healthywater\/hygiene\/etiquette\/coughing_sneezing.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/antibiotic-use\/community\/for-patients\/common-illnesses\/index.html\">https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/antibiotic-use\/community\/for-patients\/common-illnesses\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/wellness-program-always-great-weve-working\"><strong>Continue reading: &#8220;Our Wellness Program has always been great, but we\u2019ve been working out&#8221;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Staying well in winter isn\u2019t just about getting a flu shot. There are many reasons for employers to approach flu\/illness prevention holistically. Many viruses, not just influenza, can cause workplace illness during the cooler months. Because the flu vaccine has variable effectiveness, even in the best of times, encourage your employees to do more and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[125,126,127],"class_list":["post-3566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-flu","tag-influenza","tag-sick"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Fighting the Flu Requires More Than a Flu Shot | Health Advocate<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fighting the Flu Requires More Than a Flu Shot\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Staying well in winter isn\u2019t just about getting a flu shot. There are many reasons for employers to approach flu\/illness prevention holistically. Many viruses, not just influenza, can cause workplace illness during the cooler months. Because the flu vaccine has variable effectiveness, even in the best of times, encourage your employees to do more and [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Health Advocate\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/healthadvocateinc\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-29T20:25:22+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-14T22:22:40+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/fighting-the-flu-requires-more-than-a-flu-shot.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1728\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jessica Parker-Smith\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@healthadvocate\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@healthadvocate\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jessica Parker-Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jessica Parker-Smith\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/f61203293a2efa291ac950508d7c7140\"},\"headline\":\"Fighting the Flu Requires More Than a Flu Shot\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-29T20:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-14T22:22:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/fighting-the-flu-requires-more-than-a-flu-shot.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"flu\",\"influenza\",\"sick\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\",\"name\":\"Fighting the Flu Requires More Than a Flu Shot | Health Advocate\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/fighting-the-flu-requires-more-than-a-flu-shot.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-29T20:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-14T22:22:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/fighting-the-flu-requires-more-than-a-flu-shot.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/fighting-the-flu-requires-more-than-a-flu-shot.jpg\",\"width\":1728,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"Young man suffering from cold and coughing\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/fighting-flu-requires-flu-shot#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fighting the Flu Requires More Than a Flu Shot\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/\",\"name\":\"Health Advocate\",\"description\":\"Caring for you in all ways. 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