Healthy Habits Reminders for Fall 2023

With another exciting academic year getting underway, Wake Forest is focused on cultivating the best learning environment possible for all students, faculty and staff. To do so, we need to keep our campus community as healthy as possible.

As we transition to normalizing COVID-19, we must also remain diligent and focused on healthy habits to prevent the spread of illnesses such as flu, norovirus, strep throat and other upper respiratory viruses. To protect our community, we strongly recommend that all faculty, staff and students remain current with vaccinations, including flu and COVID-19 series and variant-updated boosters. The Student Health Service (SHS) will offer free flu vaccination clinics to all students beginning in September. Students should visit the Student Health Service website for dates, times and locations.

Wake Forest is a highly residential community where we live, work and learn together. Below are healthy habits to follow to mitigate the impact of illness on campus:

  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
  • Avoid sharing food/drinks.
  • Wash your hands after using the restroom, coughing or sneezing, eating, and touching shared surfaces.
    • Using warm soapy water or 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer, scrub both sides of your hands, between your fingers and under your fingernails for at least 20 seconds.
  • Use a tissue or cough/sneeze into your elbow.
  • Wear a mask if you are coughing to avoid spreading germs.
  • Use antibacterial solutions daily to clean shared surfaces such as door knobs, countertops, toilet handles, remote controls, cabinet pulls, etc.
  • Wash reusable water bottles and straws daily with dish detergent and hot water.
  • Wash all fruits and vegetables before consuming.
  • Stay home if you are sick or have a fever (100.4 F or 38.0 C), and avoid others who may be ill.
    • The CDC recommends staying home for at least 24 hours after fever has resolved (without the use of fever-reducing medicine, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen)
  • For COVID-19, the CDC recommends
    • Isolating for at least five days if you test positive, and
    • Wearing a mask in public until 10 days from the start of symptoms or a positive test. 
    • For more information, visit the CDC website.
  • For norovirus (stomach bug), it is recommended that you
    • Stay home until two days after symptoms have ended, and
    • Clean surfaces and bathrooms with bleach.

Students are encouraged to schedule an appointment with Student Health Service via their Health Portal or by visiting the clinic during the hours of operation listed on the Student Health Service website.

As the academic year continues, we will provide campus health updates as needed. Thank you for your personal efforts to take care of yourselves and the Wake Forest community.

– Campus Health Committee, chaired by Warrenetta Mann, Assistant Vice President for Health and Wellbeing

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