Healthy Habits for the Colder Season

Basic hygiene, staying home when sick, and vaccines among top doctor recommendations as viruses loom large

By Art Bukowski | Nov. 11, 2023

As the days grow shorter and temperatures continue to drop, it’s time to stock up on cold medications, tissues, and cough drops. Fortunately, some of the most important practices that prevent illnesses from spreading are also some of the most basic.

“When it comes to prevention, some of the stuff that we learned all the way back in kindergarten still really holds true,” says Dr. Joe Santangelo, who serves as the chief medical, quality, and safety officer for Munson Healthcare. “Washing your hands, trying not to touch your hands, eyes, nose, or mouth with hands that aren’t clean, staying home when you’re sick, things like that.”

And while sickness has always spiked in fall and winter, the ante has been upped in recent years with COVID-19 joining influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and other illnesses that have plagued people for generations. The simple practices that Santangelo describes above are arguably more important than ever with a particularly noxious mix of bad bugs on the prowl.

“Some of these things have been with us for a long time. Influenza, we’ve been talking about for a million years, and the same with RSV… and of course we’ve been talking a lot about COVID a lot for the past few years. Now we’re in this interesting scenario here where we have all three infections,” Santangelo says. “The flu and RSV are clearly winter viruses; they have more seasonality that way. We’re still sort of figuring things out with COVID, but it does seem that the conditions that make the flu and RSV more likely to spread are the same that make COVID more likely to spread.”

As of our conversation, the Munson system had yet to see a spike in the “big three” viruses, though they’re at a heightened level of preparedness as we move into the traditional sick season.

“We’re not expecting a surge like we saw last year in 2022, but we do think it’s likely that we’ll have an increase in influenza hospitalizations, and then sometimes people get both, and those people can get quite sick,” Santangelo says. “And while we’re not expecting a huge surge, we’re prepared for it.”

It’s impossible to predict just how bad this season will be, but Santangelo says it will be mitigated if everyone does their part to reduce the spread of infection.

“During COVID, when we had a lot of mask mandates and stay-at-home mandates, we saw a dramatic reduction in all three of these illnesses,” he says. “There’s often a lot of questions about this kind of mask or that kind of mask, but from a very high-level view as a doctor, I feel very confident telling everyone is that these things that we’re talking about—masking, washing your hands, staying home—they work. Period, full stop.”

One thing COVID seems to have changed for the better is the expectation that being sick means staying home.

“I do think that as a society, we are a little bit better now than we were [previously] about staying home and staying away from other people if we’re sick,” Santangelo says. “It used to be the pressure was that you should be at work unless you have a fever or you’re throwing up. Now we’re in a place where people are more understanding if you say you’re going to work virtually for a few days…and I think we need to take advantage of that.”

There is, of course, another major step that people can take to prevent the spread of infection. Vaccines exist for all three viruses, though the RSV vaccine is typically only recommended for babies and senior citizens, barring extenuating circumstances.

“Getting vaccinated if it’s appropriate for you is something that people should really consider, and luckily we’re in a place now where you can get those vaccines in a lot of places,” Santangelo says. “You can get them at your primary care doc, you can get them from drugstores or Meijer, places like that.”

He adds that the medical community is still battling a ton of misinformation about these life-saving tools. Santangelo hopes area residents see through the noise and embrace vaccines this year and well into the future.

“We do a lot of scientific study on these vaccines to really weigh the risks and benefits, and they have to go through a lot of scientific rigor before they get to people,” Santangelo says. “The risk of getting an influenza vaccine or a COVID vaccine is far outweighed by the benefits that they confer, and those benefits include a far lower rate of hospitalization and death from those illnesses.”

If you’re not sure if vaccines are right for you, just do Santangelo a favor and talk to a medical professional instead of doing YouTube “research.”

“It’s perfectly normal, acceptable, and appropriate to have questions—I don’t want anybody to be a robot and just do what other people say—but get your questions answered by a reliable medical source,” he says.

While COVID-19, influenza, and RSV can make anyone sick, statistics show that most deaths and hospitalizations occur in the very young, the elderly, and those with other medical conditions, particularly those who have compromised immune systems. Santangelo is out to remind everyone that as far as illness goes, the steps you take could mean the difference between life and death for others in your community.

“I’m a middle-aged, relatively healthy guy, so the chance of me dying from COVID is relatively low. But if I get COVID and I go see my parents—who are older than 65 and have some other medical conditions—or if there’s a friend of mine who’s undergoing a medical treatment that makes them immunocompromised, then I might put them at severe risk of being in the hospital or dying from these infections,” Santangelo says.

“Let’s remember to think about each other and take care of each other as a society,” he concludes. “I understand it’s a pain if someone asks you to put a mask on—nobody likes wearing masks—but if wearing masks will protect those you love and the loved ones of those around, then it’s worth it.”