Respiratory Infections

Management of Respiratory Infections

Tips to prevent respiratory viruses:

• Keep your vaccines Up to Date. Speak with your primary healthcare provider or your pharmacist.
• Maintain a healthy immune system. You can find tips to enhance your immunity here.
• Get tested if you have respiratory symptoms. Rule out COVID, influenza or RSV, don’t assume it’s “just a cold” or “allergies”.
• Seek health care right away for treatment if you have risk factors for severe illness. Treatment may be an option to make your symptoms less severe and shorten the time you are sick. Treatment needs to be started within a few days of when your symptoms begin.

What to do if you have a respiratory infection. Recommendation video: CDC

Step 1: Stay at home. You should stay home and away from others until at least 24 hours after both:

1. Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
2. You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).

This advice is similar to what has been recommended for flu for decades and will help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses during the most contagious period after infection. Not all respiratory virus infections result in a fever, so paying attention to other symptoms (cough, muscle aches, etc.) is important as you determine when you are well enough to leave home.

If your symptoms are getting better, and stay better for 24 hours, you are less likely to pass your infection to others and you can start getting back to your daily routine and move on to step 2

Step 2: Resume normal activities and use added prevention strategies over the next five days.

This may include taking more steps for cleaner air, enhancing your hygiene practices, wearing a well-fitting mask, keeping a distance from others, and/or getting tested for respiratory viruses. People can choose to use these prevention strategies at any time. Since some people remain contagious beyond the “stay-at-home” period, taking added precautions can lower the chance of spreading respiratory viruses to others.

People who are at higher risk for severe illness who start to feel sick should seek health care right away so that they can access testing and/or treatment. Early treatment for COVID-19 or flu may prevent severe disease in people at higher risk, even if they are up to date with their vaccines.

Depending on your circumstances, here are a few examples of what updated guidance could look like if you come down with a respiratory infection:

• Person with fever and symptoms:
  
• Person with fever but no other symptoms:
  
• Person with fever and other symptoms, fever ends but other symptoms take longer to improve:
  
• Person gets better and then gets a fever:
  

No On-Campus Isolation Rooms

There are no isolation rooms on any of our campus locations, and students are advised to go home to recover. Those who are unable to go home will remain in their room and must wear a well-fitted mask if around others.