Message for parents and guardians about keeping your family well this winter from the Director of Public Health Professor Matthew Ashton:
Flu is spreading earlier than usual this year. More people are getting sick. There are easy ways to help stop it spreading. Please remind your child to wash their hands often – especially before eating, after using the toilet, and after coughing and sneezing.
Encourage them to cover their nose and mouth when they cough or sneeze, and to wash their hands afterwards.
If they don’t have a tissue, they can cough or sneeze into their elbow or sleeve, not their hands.
The flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself from flu. If your child did not get their flu vaccine at school, you can bring them to a drop-in flu clinic this Saturday morning 13 December at Kensington Clinic, 9:30am–12:30pm for school-aged children. No booking is needed. The flu vaccine helps protect your child and family. It is safe and cannot give your child the flu.
Children can still come to school if they have a slight cough or a common cold, (like a runny nose, sore throat or headache), as long as they are otherwise well and do not have a high temperature. But if they have a high temperature, keep them off school until the temperature has gone.
