It’s the time of the year when flu season starts and people are getting sick. Except this time it is not the kind of flu you can just ignore, drink orange juice, or eat cough drops all day and expect it go away.

According to the Sacramento Bee, 97 people died in California and other countries that use the same vaccine, like Australia, which has also dealt with reports of record high numbers of influenza cases.

The influenza virus can be spread in a variety of ways, including being airborne from a person coughing or sneezing because of the aerosols of the flu.

The symptoms of the flu is similar to a normal cold so you won’t know you have the deadly version of the virus until your body feels weak or immobile.

There are some methods to not spread this virus: wash your hands, keep your house clean, and sneeze into your elbow when you sneeze. Also, use hand sanitizer after you touch a door handle in your house or in public places.

RBHS student Julian Rivas describes what having this flu is like.

“The symptoms were normal, as if I had a cold, a normal stuffy nose, sore throat, swallowing mucus, etc. I don’t even know how I got it,“ said Rivas. “I thought all I had to do to get rid of this cold was to just drink orange juice and cough drops, but that was not enough because two days later my body felt really weak and I couldn’t move at all.”

The best tactic to make sure this virus does not spread around RB is to have hand sanitizer on you until flu season is over. Many sick people touch their face and touch things around the school. Wash your hands after you use the bathroom. Get the flu shot even if it is only roughly 10-20% effective. Every percentage to prevent a virus counts. Lastly, sneeze into your elbow. Nobody wants to get covered in snot, or have a virus that could have been preventable.