Introducing the New Employee Health & Wellness Column: Understanding Colds and Flu

Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) values the health and wellness of our staff and students. Health and wellness is typically thought to be centered around exercising and having a well-balanced diet, but it can also include ensuring you get enough sleep or taking time out of your day to complete a favorite activity. Having sound information is key to wellness.

To support staff wellness, ACPS is launching a weekly health and wellness column in the ACPS Insider newsletter that provides staff with tips, resources, activities and more.

For our first column, we would like to highlight a few tips from our health coverage provider, UnitedHealthcare, that can help staff differentiate between the cold and a flu, including:

• Colds are typically milder with symptoms such as a runny or stuffy nose and usually do not result in serious health issues such as pneumonia, infections or hospitalizations.
• Unlike the common cold, symptoms of the flu are far more intense and can include fever, body aches, extreme tiredness and a dry cough.
• Rapid influenza diagnostic tests may be able to identify whether someone has the flu within 30 minutes and are better at detecting flu in children than in adults.
• Treating the flu can include lots of rest and fluids; a humidifier can make breathing easier and sometimes medications — both over-the-counter and prescription — could help as well.

For more information, UnitedHealthcare offers a video on understanding colds and flu.