For the Love of Health

Flu Fighters: Staying Healthy Through Cold and Flu Season with Dr. Marci Drees and Cynthia Griffin

• ChristianaCare • Season 3 • Episode 7

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Flu is unpredictable, but your plan doesn't have to be. On this episode of For the Love of Health, we sat down with Dr. Marci Drees, Chief Infection Prevention Officer, and Cynthia Griffin, Chief Nursing Officer of Community Care at ChristianaCare, to map out a smarter way to move through cold and flu season without the stress. From vaccine timing to sick-day decisions, we break down what actually works - and what you can skip - to keep your family safer and your schedule intact.

We also introduce ChristianaCare's Cough & Cold Line (302-623-7400), open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., to help you decide between watchful waiting, primary care, urgent care, or the Emergency Department.

If you're ready to trade confusion for confidence this respiratory season, hit play. Subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs a plan, and leave a review to help more listeners find evidence-based guidance when it matters most.

Marci Drees, M.D., MS, DTMH, FACP, FSHEA, is the Chief Infection Prevention Officer and hospital epidemiologist for ChristianaCare. Her clinical research has covered topics such as infant mortality, flu vaccination, outpatient antibiotic use, healthcare-associated infections and disease outbreaks.

Cynthia Griffin, BSN, MS, RN, is the chief nursing officer of Community Care at ChristianaCare. She oversees nursing care of Christiana Care owned and affiliated community-based primary care services.

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Setting The Stakes: Flu Outlook

SPEAKER_01

Ideally, we want people to get vaccinated now because you'll be protected. You know, it takes about two weeks for those vaccines to protect you.

SPEAKER_00

You're listening to For the Love of Health, a podcast about delivering care and creating health, brought to you by Christiana Care. Hello, everyone, I'm Jason Takarski.

SPEAKER_03

And I'm Megan McGerman. Welcome to For the Love of Health, brought to you by Christiana Care.

SPEAKER_00

It is the season for tissues and cough drops and sick days. Are you prepared with your flu shot appointment and extra hand soap?

SPEAKER_03

To talk all things cold and flu season today, we're joined by Dr. Marcy Drees, Christiana Care Chief Infection Prevention Officer, and Cynthia Griffin, Chief Nursing Officer of Community Care at Christiana Care. Marcy and Cynthia, thank you so much for being here today. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_03

We talk about cold and flu every year. Now it's October.

Who Should Get Which Vaccines

SPEAKER_03

We're rolling into that season. Marcy, is there a sense of how bad it could get this year?

SPEAKER_01

The thing I always say about flu is that it's the only thing predictable about it is that it's unpredictable. We never really know in advance how bad each season's going to be. Last season was an exceptionally bad flu season for across all age groups. But even then, like in the 65 and older population, we still had a lot of hospitalizations from COVID as well, even though for most people they didn't really feel like COVID was that bad last year. I would say it's unusual to have two severe flu seasons back to back, but it certainly isn't impossible.

SPEAKER_03

Let's start with prevention then. How do we avoid two back-to-back bad flu seasons? Obviously, vaccination, getting that flu shot, getting the COVID vaccine. Run us through who is eligible for these vaccines.

SPEAKER_01

So nothing has really changed with the flu vaccines. It continues to be recommended for everyone six months of age and older. If you're under the age of eight and have never been vaccinated for flu before, you'll need two vaccines this season. But if for everyone else, it's just one vaccine. There are special vaccines recommended for the 65 and older group, either the adjuvented or high dose. You know, there's there's three different ones that you that are recommended for that group. But if those aren't available, you're still recommended to get whatever flu vaccine is available. For COVID, you know, it's been a lot of changing recommendations and obviously a lot of political stuff has come into it, which we're not going to get into, of course. But, you know, so what you hear from one source may be different than what you hear from a professional society, for example. They don't, they're not always agreeing. But the science hasn't changed. And I think everyone really needs to weigh their own personal risks and benefits. But I think certainly if you're 65 and older, you absolutely should get an updated COVID vaccine. If you're under 65 and have any, you know, there's a long list of underlying conditions, everything from being physically inactive to obviously heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, stuff like that. If you have any of those conditions, you should get it an updated COVID vaccine. If you're pregnant, you absolutely should get an updated COVID vaccine. Not only to protect you, we know that women, especially in their third trimester, are at increased risk of rest from respiratory illnesses, flu and COVID, uh, among others, but it also helps protect the newborn until they can get vaccinated themselves. And then RSV is a little bit more restricted. So it is recommended for everyone 75 years of age and older. And for people 50 and above, now that's a change. It used to be 60, now it's been dropped to 50 and above, with a range, again, of underlying conditions are recommended to get the RSV vaccine. And again, all of these vaccines are primarily intended to keep people out of the hospital. Um, if you're a young, healthy person, it's uh and you get COVID or flu, it's unlikely you'll end up in the hospital, but you still may feel bad, um, may miss work, your kids may miss school. So there's still benefit. It's just the primary benefit is keeping people with underlying conditions or older age out of the hospital.

SPEAKER_00

So let's move beyond vaccinations a little bit

Beyond Shots: Hygiene That Works

SPEAKER_00

here as well. Cynthia, we all know washing your hands is a is a big step to avoiding all of these uh infections. What are some of the other things people should be doing to try to stay healthy this season?

SPEAKER_02

I just want to emphasize again that hand washing is so important. And as you know, that that would help us stay healthy, help your family stay healthy. Like it's really important. But in addition to that, we should think about cleaning high-touch surfaces such as doorknobs. And you know, everyone has their cell phones in their hand. Oftentimes those cell phones need to be cleaned more often now during the flu and cold season.

SPEAKER_03

In 2020, 2021, everyone was wiping down everything. So, where is the threshold here? How kind of over the top should we get, or should it be, oh, I haven't wiped my phone down in a few days, let me do that.

SPEAKER_02

I think it's important not to go over top, right? We want to make sure that everyone is just doing a little more, you know, bringing back some of those routines that they've had during COVID. But don't go over the top. You no need to clean walls and and bring in, you know, extra cleaning supplies. Just do the routine.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, I don't think we have to be wiping down groceries like some people were during COVID, but like Cynthia said, those really focusing on those high touch surfaces. Because people forget, like we're touching our face constantly. Um, and it's very easy to infect yourself by touching your eyes or your nose or your mouth after you've touched it really any surface.

Sick Day Triage: Test, Mask, Or Stay Home

SPEAKER_03

If someone listening is feeling symptomatic, not really sure what it is, you know, woke up with a scratchy throat or I've been coughing a lot, but I don't know, maybe it's COVID, maybe it's something else, who knows? What should the first step be? Is it still testing? Is it masking? Is it staying home? What is the current really recommendation in your professional opinion for that first step on a sick day?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think the important thing is if you're sick, your risk of transmitting to others uh is high, right? So whether it's a cold or COVID or the flu, like the last thing you want to do is give it to your coworkers, right? So if you really are feeling lousy, especially if you have a fever, but even if not, um, you probably don't want to go to work if you have the option not to do that. If if you don't have sick time, you have to go to work, then certainly wear a mask and try to, you know, distance from others as best you can, again, depending on what your what your work is. If you're otherwise healthy, you know, do you have to go get a test? Probably not. I mean, obviously, home COVID tests are readily available. There are also home flu and COVID combined tests that you can get if you want to know, but it's probably not going to change your management of how you, you know, if again, if you don't have really underlying risk factors for severe flu or severe COVID. Now, if you do, you may want to obviously talk to your doctor if you're pregnant, if you have underlying heart or lung disease, or and obviously if your symptoms are bad enough that you're, you know, struggling to breathe, or, you know, your people, your family saying, you know, you don't seem quite right, you're a little confused. Like those are times where you certainly need to seek care and be tested. And and, you know, for both flu and COVID, there are specific treatments, antiviral treatments that are effective for those two illnesses. For RSV, it's just supportive care, but you still probably want to know which one it is.

SPEAKER_00

Kind of a big change from where things were in the in the heat of the pandemic, in that if you test it and it came back positive, we had these guidelines of don't leave your house for so many days, don't be near people. Now it's do what you can if if you test positive.

SPEAKER_01

I think the federal agencies have been trying to normalize COVID because it is it is now another respiratory virus that we're going to be dealing with every year. And there is a lot of population level immunity already because of all the vaccines that people have gotten and all the illnesses that are out there. So people are not dying at the rate that they were, you know, when it first emerged and nobody had any immunity. So, you know, we still certainly would encourage testing, if you, especially if you if you know that you're going to work and you have to be around people, you kind of want to know if it's COVID. But really, I think you can go out and just mask if you know that you have COVID for most situations. Now, if you work in healthcare, that you need to have different um guidelines.

SPEAKER_03

So we talked about the importance of staying home if you're sick, whether you test or not, you know, not being in your coworker's face, not being in, you know, the faces of other friends or neighbors. What about our kids? You know, speaking from personal experience, you get that note from preschool saying there's a respiratory illness of some kind in the classroom. What do you do if your child then starts exhibiting symptoms? Should we still be testing our kids, just keeping them home? You know, what is the general guideline

Kids, Schools, And Practical Rules

SPEAKER_03

that you would recommend to parents during this cold and flu season?

SPEAKER_01

Well, to some extent, it will depend on your daycare or the school's rules, right? So if they require testing, obviously you would need to follow their guidance, especially if there was a known exposure. But for the most part, you know, if the if the child is febrile, certainly keep them home at least 24 hours once their fever resolves without using any fever-lowering medication. If they're having nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, please leave them home because that stuff is super contagious in daycares. But you know, kids are going to come home with the sniffles like every other day, it seems like. So it's not practical to always keep them home when they're when they have some mild respiratory illness. So I think, you know, for the most part, you know, as long as they're otherwise behaving well, like they're eating and drinking normally, they're, you know, they're not overly fussy if they're young, you know. I think as long as it's just the sniffles, I think it's probably okay, as long as you're following your daycare's rules.

SPEAKER_00

Marcy, as you said, last year was a pretty rough year for respiratory illness.

The Cough & Cold Line: How It Helps

SPEAKER_00

And Christiana Care, as part of that, launched the the cough and cold line to help the community have a better understanding of what they're dealing with and how to manage it. We've brought that back again this year. Cynthia, can you tell us a little more about what that is and how people can use it?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, sure, sure. We're really excited to bring back the cough and cold line. Last year we did it and in seven weeks we had over 1,200 calls. It was amazing how the community reached out and they were seeking that care. This year we have launched it and it's been reopened starting October 1st. So it's already open and ready for the public. And the hours are between eight and four, uh, Monday through Friday. The phone number is 302-623-7400. If you have mild symptoms and you're not quite sure, like what do I do? Do I need to, you know, make an appointment? Do I just monitor my symptoms? Or do I need to go in and see a provider? In addition to that, if you feel like you need some extra support, like maybe you need to talk to someone, you can use the prompts to uh connect with a caregiver who will give you a call back. In addition to that, you may be able to even connect to someone who will connect you to a virtual provider so that you can get even more information. So again, very easy to use. Really excited to have this cough and coline available. These are resources that if you're not quite sure what to do, call the cough and cold line.

SPEAKER_03

So it's a great opportunity to be able to figure out do I stay home, do I go to primary care, do I go to urgent care, or you know, God forbid, need to go to the emergency department. Call the line and they'll help you figure that out.

SPEAKER_02

Correct. So if you call the cough and cold line, there's a lot of good information there about what do I do if I have a cough? And it's been seven days. Do I need to see someone? What do I do if I have a fever? And again, it is open now. So feel free to uh give it a call.

SPEAKER_03

And how long does the cough and cold line run? I know we're only a week into really cough and cold season. We just opened that line on the first. You know, are we looking at February, March for this to run through and really be in this cough and cold season?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. We're looking to run the cough and cold line well into March and April timeframe. We'll monitor how many calls are coming in. But the plan is to have it available throughout the season.

SPEAKER_03

Marcy, I know that's kind of a good reminder to people. Cold and flu season isn't October, November. It doesn't just stop.

Season Timeline And Right Care, Right Place

SPEAKER_01

No, no. It um and frequently in Delaware and surrounding states, we st we start to see flu, especially, you know, it might start to trickle in in November occasionally earlier, but usually November is when it starts to pick up and will peak probably end of December or January. COVID has been very unpredictable as to when it peaks, usually around the same time, but it often will trail, both of them will trail in well into March and into April. So ideally, we want people to get vaccinated now because you'll be protected. You know, it takes about two weeks for those vaccines to protect you. So we want to get it earlier than later, but we will continue to vaccinate through the end of March typically. And we really just want people to get seek the right care at the right time. If it's after hours for the cough and cold line, a lot of people come to the ER for testing and they certainly will test you there after, but you know, when it gets busy in the wintertime, you may be waiting for hours and hours. And it's if you really don't need emergency care, you know, you're not having trouble breathing, you're not having chest pain, you're not confused. You know, those are reasons why you would want to seek emergency care. But there's lots of other options. Obviously, starting with your primary care doctor if you have one. They all have on-call kind of providers, you know, 24-7. And then certainly the urgent cares are growing in number as well as in hours of availability. So there's lots of options other than the emergency room when you're just not feeling great.

Primary Care Relationships That Matter

SPEAKER_03

And Cynthia, I always say not everyone has a direct line to an infection preventionist like I do with our relationship with Marcy, but everyone should have a trusted provider, be that a pregnant woman's OBGYN, your family's primary care providers. Talk about that relationship that so many of your providers have with their patients.

SPEAKER_02

So many of our providers do have great relationships with their patients. Many of our providers have had relationships with their patients for 20, 25 years. They take care of the family, they take care of the kids, they also take care of the kids' kids. Have those conversations with those providers. It is really important. Many of our providers they go into the field because they want to have those relationships. And because they've taken care of their patients for so many years, they know them well, they know their backgrounds, they understand their concerns. So again, having those relationships is really important. So if you don't have an established primary care provider, I would encourage everyone to have an established primary care provider.

SPEAKER_03

And don't be afraid to ask about the vaccines, don't be afraid to ask about symptoms. That is literally what you guys are here for.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. That's what we're here for. We have great physicians, we have nurses and practices, our medical assistants. Everyone is here to support and care for you as a patient.

SPEAKER_00

What's your last thoughts? What have we missed that you think is a very important message you want to get out to the community as we head into this respiratory season?

Final Takeaways And Resources

SPEAKER_01

We know every year what we're getting into, and we just want people to be prepared. You know, be prepared with what do you do when your kids get sick? Like how are you gonna manage not sending them to school sick? Or how are you gonna manage not being able to go to work? And obviously doing everything you can to prevent uh the illness in in the first place.

SPEAKER_02

Two things that that come to mind. One is lather up, wash your hands, wash them well, remember the happy birthday song, wash them to the tune of happy birthday. And then second thing that comes to mind is the coffin coal line is here for the community.

SPEAKER_00

Cynthia, one more time. What's the phone number?

SPEAKER_02

The phone number is 302-623-7400.

SPEAKER_03

Cynthia and Marcy, thank you so much. I will be honest, I hope we don't talk to you again and that everyone gets vaccinated, and it is a quiet cold and flu season. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03

Check out the show notes for this episode for more information on the cough and cold line and where you can get vaccinated.

SPEAKER_00

You can also get the latest information on social media. Just search Christiana Care on your favorite platform.

SPEAKER_03

We'll be back in two weeks with another great conversation.

SPEAKER_00

Until then, thanks again for joining us. For the love of health,

Head Shot

Megan McGuriman

Co-host