Prepare for Flu Season

The first step is to get the flu vaccine. While it won’t completely prevent the flu, the annual vaccine has been shown to lessen its severity. It can also reduce the likelihood of colds and other illnesses, and protect the very young and the very old from the very serious complications that can result. Getting the flu vaccine early will give your body adequate time to build up resistance.

The second-best way to prevent the flu is thorough handwashing with soap and water. Washing your hands often prevents the spread of germs. If soap and water isn’t accessible, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is effective too.

Visitors are always welcome and play an important role in your loved one’s recovery, but their health and well-being come first. If you have a cold, sore throat, or any contagious disease, please refrain from visiting.

There are times during the height of the flu seasons that we implement additional restrictions on visitors to minimize the spread of infection. We’ll post here to let you know when those are in place.

You can also read our Visitor Guidelines for each of our hospitals:

• Duke University Hospital
• Duke Children's Hospital
• Duke Raleigh Hospital
• Duke Regional Hospital

Duke University Health System protects our patients, their loved ones, our staff and our community by requiring that our employees and providers are vaccinated annually against the flu or are approved for a medical or religious exemption from vaccination. We are proud to report that the vaccination rate among our staff and providers exceeds 98 percent.

View our Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Flu and Flu-Related Visitor Restrictions.

If you're looking for more information, the Centers for Disease Control has a wealth of useful articles about flu prevention and symptoms.