Every winter, the risk of viruses and diseases can spread rapidly as more and more people stay indoors and increase potential spread. Cold winter months lead to indoor gatherings that can cause illnesses to spread from host-to-host at an alarming rate. Additionally, more and more people are likely to be exposed to common colds, influenza, and COVID-19. RSV has also made recent headlines as an emergent disease.

Viruses and diseases are extremely contagious but are also highly preventable. If you believe that you have sudden illness and disease symptoms you should visit AFC Urgent Care Centennial for same-day urgent care treatment. For patients that don’t have symptoms they can take the following steps to avoid illness symptoms.

Watch out for illness risk factors that quickly cause infections

Cold winter months lead to major surges in illnesses as more and more people spend time indoors; a significant catalyst in the spread of illnesses and viruses during winter. As we stated above, COVID-19 is still a relevant cause of sore throat symptoms as the virus continues to change and move to an endemic state. While severe health outcomes are lessening in general from COVID, it still is causing sore throat and flu-like symptoms across the country.

RSV is another emergent virus that leads to cough and sore throat quickly within communities. RSV adversely affects small children and older adults while most patients have flu-like symptoms and acute respiratory irritation. Common colds and flu are also a major part of sore throat cases each year during wintertime.

Use these safety skills to reduce virus infection risks

The main safety skills to help reduce virus infections include the following techniques to help make sure that you are healthy this winter season. The virus prevention skills to follow include:

• Wearing a mask at large public gatherings or indoors with a lot of people
• Frequently wash your hands throughout the day to avoid potential infection or spread of illness-borne particles, droplets, and other transmissible factors
• Maintaining strong personal hygiene to reduce germs and microbes that contain viruses

Test for viruses, illness symptoms and more at an urgent care center

Testing for viruses and illnesses should be easy and at AFC Urgent Care Centennial we provide just that: easy and affordable illness testing. Simply use the online button to pre-register your visit in advance or visit our walk-in clinic. Our urgent care team is ready to test for all types of illnesses with panel testing, COVID-19 testing, and more.

Nearby patients have a short drive to our urgent care center in Centennial, CO for seasonal illness testing and care. Call us today if you need treatment or testing for sudden illness symptoms!