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Hudson Health Center is an on-campus facility for students' medical needs. (FILE)

Watch out for illnesses after you move in this fall

Students said they wash their hands, wear gloves and sometimes quarantine themselves to avoid getting sick.

For freshmen, the first year of college brings new experiences, new friends and new germs.

Jade Brannan, an Ohio University class of 2016 graduate, said the first time she got sick at college was the beginning of freshman year.

“I’ve had the flu, sinus infections, ear infections. Any infections,” Brannan said. “Freshman year when you first move in, you’re exposed to everything and everyone.”

Amanda Swope, a nurse supervisor at Campus Care, said the clinic sees steady activity during the beginning of Fall Semester. The clinic is busiest during flu season between January and March.

But those trends can vary from year to year. This past academic year, Swope said the clinic was busiest near the end of Spring Semester due to a late flu season.

“We generally see strep throat, mono or allergy symptoms (at) the beginning (of) each Fall semester,” Swope said in an email.

Swope said students can avoid getting sick by getting ample rest and eating a balanced diet with plenty of fluids. Washing hands and keeping personal items clean of germs can also help prevent the spread of communicable diseases, she said.

She also said exercising and avoiding stress can help students stay healthy.

According to a previous Post report, students can also get flu shots at Campus Care for $56, and the cost can be billed to insurance. Vaccines can be administered as late into the flu season as April.

Students have their own tactics for staying healthy.

“Wash your hands constantly,” Brannan said. “If you are sick, don’t come to class. Cover your sneeze. My mom would kill me if I didn’t add that.”

Brannan said she sees a lot of sick people at the beginning of the year when students move in and when the seasons change in the winter and spring.

Halee Smith, an OU class of 2016 graduate, said she got sick more often when she lived in the dorms because so many people were around her.

“I quarantine myself,” Smith said. “I tell people not to come near me, and I wash my hands and body extra well.”

Smith said she studied communication sciences and disorders, so the courses she took for her major taught her quite a bit about avoiding pathogens. Because she studies in the medical field, she said she’s the one in her friend group who tends to care for the others when they get sick.

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“When someone’s sick, I usually get a text like ‘Can you get me such and such?’ " she said.

Smith said she wears gloves when she drops off cold medicine and other supplies to sick friends.

“If they’ve coughed and touched their doorknob, I don’t want to touch their doorknob,” she said. “I have no immune system, either, so I have to watch it.”

@baileygallion

bg272614@ohio.edu

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