With the holidays upon us, illnesses are still making their way around the community.
Renown Health officials say this time of year, they see a lot of the common cold, rhinovirus, and enterovirus, which are not something urgent care tests for. But they know because when people come into the ER, it's documented, and those numbers remain high.
Sarah Gentile, a family nurse practitioner at Renown Health, says they are not seeing a lot of flu, COVID cases, or RSV right now. Although there are a few.
But Northern Nevada Public Health says they are seeing signs of the flu starting to increase, saying we may be in for a severe flu season like the one we saw last year.
Kellie Watkins, the Epidemiology Program Manager at Northern Nevada Public Health, says, "We do always encourage it, particularly if you might be around vulnerable populations like infants, children, the elderly, or those with underlying medical conditions. If you are sick, we encourage you to seek medical treatment, but to try to avoid those gatherings if possible."
Gentile also says they are seeing a lot of hand, foot, and mouth disease going around, and that can take about a week to get over.
She explains, "In regard to viral illnesses, I wouldn't say that we're seeing any record-breaking numbers with any one viral illness. Currently, I've seen several patients with the stomach flu. People call it the 'flu virus,' but it's not the flu virus that causes it. The flu virus is a respiratory illness."
With the holiday season bringing along a lot of gatherings, there are steps you can take to help protect yourself from getting sick.
"If you're sick, don't go. Especially if you've had a fever. Once you haven't had a fever and you're feeling better for a full 24 hours without the use of Tylenol and ibuprofen, you're generally considered not contagious anymore," said Gentile.
Some other obvious tips are to wash your hands and do so often, and clean surfaces with bleach-based products.
They say getting vaccinated can help prevent getting severely sick, and it's not too late, even if we are in the thick of the sick season.
Also, Gentile says, using hypertonic saline can decrease how contagious you are by 35%. It's a nasal spray.
You can also access Northern Nevada Public Health's dashboard that keeps track of illnesses going around the community by clicking the link here.
