This winter, the flu seemed to get around to many at Park View. The flu is a serious sickness that could even lead to death if not taken care of. It is killing almost 4,000 Americans a week according to fortune.com. People take vaccines to prevent the flu from occurring in the first place; however, it doesn’t always work. Some symptoms of the flu include high fever, sore throat, headache, tiredness, vomiting, stuffy nose, etc.  

“This year it’s getting a lot of attention in the media. It’s been a pretty bad flu year. There’s only been a couple like this in the fifteen years I’ve been here,” said school nurse, Ms. Linda Merola. Most of the Park View students have been staying home when they get a fever or start to get symptoms of the flu, so there haven’t been many students coming to the nurse.

I, personally got the flu for the first time this year. It drains all of your energy, causing you couldn’t stand for more than five minutes, well at least in my case it did. It caused me to constantly feel dizzy and nauseous. On top of that, I never had an appetite which caused me to lose about six pounds. I stayed in bed for four days straight and did not leave my house once. During my early stages of the flu, I passed it down to almost everyone on the basketball team. Sophomore, Haley Lawson, was one of them. “I had the sniffles and my body was cold. I also had a fever.” said Lawson. It lasted for about five days for her. However, she did get her flu shot to prevent this from happening. The flu shot is meant to prevent you from getting the flu in the first place. During the 2015-2016 flu season, the shot prevented five million people from getting it according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC. However, the numbers have dropped for flu shot effectiveness.

Seven out of nineteen students in Newspaper caught the flu, including Newspaper teacher, Nicole Cobb. That shows how quickly this illness could spread. Therefore, if someone is starting to get the symptoms, they should consider that they could possibly have the flu and stay home.

There are many ways to try and prevent the flu such as the flu shot, staying away from people that are sick, covering your mouth and nose, and many more.

Ms. Merola said, “That’s the way to stay healthy is keep your hands clean.”