The start of the 2017 Spring semester at the U of A has brought an unfortunate guest to many students and faculty on campus.
The flu virus has spread across the university, keeping the faculty and staff at the Pat Walker health center on their toes.
Zac Brown, Assistant Director of Communications at the Pat Walker Health Center, said they really want students to cover their mouth or nose when they sneeze or cough, and always wash their hands regularly with warm warm and soap.
He also said that in just this month alone, the University has seen a record number of confirmed flu cases.
Compared to last year’s flu season, the Pat Walker Health Center has diagnosed nearly twice the amount of patients in almost half the time.
Brown said, “Our peak month last year were march 7th and march 14th where we actually only submitted one hundred and one cases of the flu.”
He believes that the majority of the confirmed cases are coming from students living on campus.
Numbers show a lower percentage of faculty and staff have the virus compared to the students.
“Overall we have seen 94 students who are of the ages of 18 to 19, so we are imagining that a lot of it is happening within the residence halls,” Brown said.
Student Jason Conners is one the those 94 students.
Conners said, “Monday morning I woke up with a really bad fever and that’s whenever I knew I was sick.”
He said that taking all of the necessary steps to stay hygienic is worth it if it means staying healthy.
“Wash your hands all the time, walk around with some germex, keep some disinfectant spray on you,” said Conners.
Pat Walker Health Center wants to remind all students, faculty, and staff that the best way to prevent the spread of the flu virus us to get your flu shot and always wash your hands.