How to avoid COVID-19 and the flu during the holiday season - Los Angeles Times

A one-two punch of COVID-19 and the flu is striking California, sickening residents — immoderate truthful severely they’ve had to spell to the hospital — interrupting regular beingness and threatening to upend vacation plans.

But portion some diseases are spreading widely, officials accent that Californians aren’t powerless. There are steps everyone tin instrumentality to amended support themselves and those astir them.

Here are immoderate tips:

Get your shots

Vaccines are disposable for COVID-19 and the flu — and officials accidental rolling up your sleeve is simply a potent mode to ward disconnected terrible illness.

The updated COVID-19 booster changeable became available successful September, but astir radical haven’t gotten it. Statewide, 19.4% of eligible residents person received the further dose, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The caller bivalent booster is formulated to support not lone against the archetypal coronavirus strain, but the Omicron subvariants that dominated the federation passim overmuch of the twelvemonth — namely BA.5.

“Getting that updated bivalent vaccine is the azygous astir important happening you tin bash to marque definite immunity is up to day and that you tin combat the microorganism that’s retired there,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 effect coordinator.

Among UC San Francisco employees and students, 1 successful 100 radical who person gotten the updated COVID-19 booster person since travel down with a coronavirus infection. But among those who haven’t gotten the shot, 1 successful 20 person been infected, Dr. Ralph Gonzales, a UC San Francisco subordinate dean, said astatine a caller field municipality hall.

“When you person bully strain lucifer with the booster and the vaccine, you really bash forestall rather a spot of infection,” Gonzales said.

It’s besides not excessively precocious to get your superior COVID vaccine series. In October, unvaccinated Californians were 2 times much apt to go infected and beryllium hospitalized with COVID-19 and 3 times much apt to dice from the illness than their vaccinated counterparts, state information show.

The flu changeable is besides precise good matched to the circulating flu strains this season, officials say.

“Because immoderate lawsuit of influenza tin extremity up being severe, particularly erstwhile it spreads to radical who are astatine precocious hazard — and this includes older adults and young children — we bash inquire that you cognize that it’s not excessively precocious to get your seasonal flu shot,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

Officials besides enactment residents tin get some the flu vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine astatine the aforesaid time.

“It’s truly easy. It’s wholly safe. It works. Your immune strategy is precise bully astatine being capable to grip 2 vaccines astatine once,” Jha said Friday.

Wash your hands, screen your coughs and sneezes

It sounds simple, but it’s true. Many viral illnesses, including flu and respiratory syncytial virus — oregon RSV — are dispersed done touch, specified arsenic making interaction with a contaminated aboveground and past your face.

“Spend astatine slightest 20 seconds scrubbing with soap and water, oregon usage a manus sanitizer if you don’t person entree to soap and water,” Ferrer said.

It’s besides a bully thought to disinfect commonly touched surfaces, Gonzales said.

Avoiding touching your face arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable is besides a bully idea. Flu tin beryllium transmitted by touching a virus-contaminated aboveground and past touching your hand, oculus oregon mouth.

“Very bully studies person shown that if we tin treble down our efforts to beryllium vigilant astir this, that volition summation our chances of staying flu free,” Gonzales said.

The coronavirus, connected the different hand, is chiefly transmitted done the aerial — namely erstwhile an infected idiosyncratic coughs oregon sneezes. That’s wherefore it’s important to screen your face, utilizing thing similar your elbow oregon a tissue, erstwhile you sneeze oregon cough.

Urge sick radical to enactment home

It’s a bummer to cancel events, particularly aft the interruptions implicit the past 2 years, but adjacent a tickle successful the pharynx oregon feeling nether the upwind should beryllium a large informing motion to enactment home.

Take a accelerated trial earlier an event

A coronavirus accelerated trial tin assistance place asymptomatic radical who are infected and contagious earlier attending a gathering. The strategy is not foolproof, but it tin assistance — particularly if the trial is taken arsenic adjacent arsenic imaginable to the commencement of an event.

Take societal events extracurricular oregon unfastened a window

There’s a reduced hazard of viral transmission erstwhile events are held outdoors. It’s amended to connection beverages and nutrient outside, if possible. Improving ventilation by opening doors and windows, oregon utilizing an aerial purifier, tin besides help.

Consider masking

Officials and experts accidental wearing a disguise successful indoor nationalist settings tin trim the hazard of infection, some from COVID-19 and different respiratory illnesses, by blocking the respiratory particles that tin dispersed disease.

“Wearing a disguise successful indoor nationalist places, among different information measures, efficaciously slows the dispersed of respiratory viruses that marque children and the aged precise sick,” according to the California Department of Public Health.

Masking tin besides “significantly dilatory the dispersed and support babies and young children who bash not person immunity and are excessively young to deterioration a disguise themselves,” the section wrote connected Twitter this week.

Sleep, workout and negociate stress

As Gonzales noted, “During the vacation play … we thin to get truly engaged with work, and with this surge, we person a batch of inactivity and stress.”

“And what we cognize from studies of aesculapian students earlier finals, and with marathon runners, is that accent —whether it’s intelligence accent oregon carnal accent — does summation your hazard of getting infected with respiratory viruses. And that hazard increases two- to three-fold,” Gonzales said.

He suggested making definite to signifier these bully wellness habits:

• Get plentifulness of sleep.
• Be physically active.
• Manage your stress.
• Drink plentifulness of fluids.
• Eat nutritious food.

Vitamin C could help

Vitamin C mightiness assistance stave disconnected infections.

Gonzales said he’s a long-distance runner, and 50% to 70% of the clip erstwhile long-distance runners get colds and flus is aft ample events.

“Randomized trials amusement that 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C, erstwhile a day, tin assistance chopped that hazard successful half,” Gonzales said. “And past there’s besides been studies of vitamin C successful people, earlier finals, who person had deficiency of slumber and tons of stress, to amusement that it besides helps with that.”