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Respiratory Disease Guidance

Health and Wellness

Spread: Respiratory infections can be spread via airborne or droplet transmission which allows them to be easily spread in locations where people are in close proximity. Due to their rapid spread, it is important to understand the proper techniques to prevent a serious outbreak.

Symptoms: Different viruses (and sometimes bacteria) will cause different symptoms. There can even be different symptoms in people infected with the same virus. In general, symptoms of a respiratory infection include:

  • Coughing
  • Sneezing
  • Congestion
  • Difficulty breathing (in some people and with some infections)
  • Fever (in some infections) which is generally considered a temperature above 100°
  • General feeling of tiredness and discomfort

These symptoms vary from person to person and will vary depending upon the infection. If your symptoms become severe, you should seek medical attention; these viruses can and will cause life-threatening illness at times.

Prevention: Vaccination is a great way to prevent infection by certain viruses. Influenza, COVID-19, and RSV are just some of the viruses that cause respiratory infections; all of these viruses have vaccines that will help prevent the disease, or at a minimum reduce the symptoms in the vaccinated person.

People who have symptoms of a respiratory infection should stay home when they’re sick and not return to work/school for at least 24 hours after their symptoms are getting better overall, and they no longer have a fever or symptoms of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medicine.

Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or by coughing or sneezing in your elbow.

Wash your hands often! Using soap and water, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and dry your hands with a paper towel. If soap and water are not available, an alcohol-based sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol can be used.

Keep your hands away from your nose, mouth, and eyes.

Routinely clean the surfaces you come into contact with such as desks, countertops, doorknobs, keyboards, phones, etc. Use the general cleaning products that you normally use to do this. Special processes to kill respiratory viruses are generally not necessary as they are fairly fragile; soap and water will kill many of them.

Employee Sick Leave:

Employees who are absent from work, please follow the Sick Leave Procedures AP-7410.8.

Resources

https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Seasonal-Respiratory-Diseases.aspx

https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/index.htm

Updated 3/11/2024