Students should wash their hands, avoid touching their faces and get their flu shot to prepare for the upcoming “moderate to severe” flu season, Chief Campus Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman said in a briefing with campus media Tuesday.  

All students can obtain over-the-counter flu tests and antiviral medications via the Engemann or Eric Cohen student health centers at University Park Campus and Health Sciences Campus, respectively. Van Orman said taking antiviral medication within 24 to 48 hours of experiencing flu symptoms can shorten the flu’s duration by about one day. 

“People know when they have influenza, it’s like they were walking down the street and a bus hit them,” she said. “It really is a much more severe illness than what’s caused by most other viruses.”

Van Orman recommended all students to get their flu shots. Beyond that, students should “go back to the basics” by getting eight hours of sleep each night, eating nutritious meals and getting 20 to 30 minutes of exercise each day. Students can also schedule appointments to speak with a counselor from CARE-SC through the MySHR portal. 

“During finals it really can feel like you’re all alone, and it can feel insurmountable,” Van Orman said. “Come talk to us. There are so many folks who can help.” 

Van Orman said there are several reasons why this year’s flu season is concerning: the rise of H3N2, a new subvariant with more severe symptoms than last year’s dominant H1N1 strain, and warning signs from Australia’s bad flu season, which often serves as an indicator for the Northern Hemisphere’s upcoming season. 

“We absolutely at times at Student Health are overwhelmed by flu season, by cold and respiratory virus season,” Van Orman said. “It puts a strain on our resources,” 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, since Oct. 1, 2024, the United States has seen between 47 million and 82 million flu illnesses and between 27,000 and 130,000 flu deaths. 

“Unfortunately, we are seeing lower vaccine rates,” Van Orman said. “When we have these lower vaccine rates, we may see more [influenza], and that’s really going to affect particularly older people, children and pregnant women, who are at the highest risk for flu related complications.” 

While flu vaccination rates today are similar to where they stood in 2010, there was an estimated 13.1% uptick in national vaccination rates between the 2017-18 and 2020-21 flu seasons, according to CDC data. Since then, rates have declined and erased those gains, a trend Van Orman said is connected to increased vaccine hesitancy. About a third of adults ages 18 to 49 got their shots during the 2023-24 flu season. 

Dr. Vinay Prasad, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research division, wrote that the FDA will revise its flu vaccine framework and establish stricter requirements for future vaccine approvals, claiming the COVID-19 vaccine killed 10 children in an internal memo last week, The New York Times reported.  

Van Orman said the consensus among the healthcare community is that claims of 10 children dying from the COVID-19 vaccine are “not substantiated by the evidence,” and that there has historically been a “robust process” for the approval of drugs and vaccines. 

“There’s [no] evidence to support taking these types of actions right now, and I think we always have to look at the safety of vaccines, but we have to balance against that with the real risks of vaccine-preventable diseases,” Van Orman said.