{"id":16115,"date":"2025-10-27T11:02:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=16115"},"modified":"2025-10-27T11:02:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:02:37","slug":"rhhd-encourages-the-little-things-to-protect-against-respiratory-illnesses-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/rhhd-encourages-the-little-things-to-protect-against-respiratory-illnesses-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"RHHD Encourages the \u2018Little Things\u2019 to Protect Against Respiratory Illnesses This Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 <\/strong>You can protect yourself and your family this fall from respiratory viruses like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/\">COVID-19<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/influenza-flu-in-virginia\/\">flu<\/a>, and respiratory syncytial virus (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/epidemiology\/epidemiology-fact-sheets\/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv\/\">RSV)<\/a> by doing some simple little things. Richmond and Henrico Health Districts share three little things for a healthy fall: washing your hands, covering your coughs and sneezes, and getting immunized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImmunization is the most effective way to prevent serious infections from flu, COVID-19, and RSV,\u201d said Richmond and Henrico Health Districts Director Elaine Perry, M.D. \u201cIt&#8217;s also important to remember basic public health prevention measures such as hand washing and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze to reduce the chances of spreading all respiratory viruses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Washing Hands<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/clean-hands\/about\/index.html\">Washing hands<\/a> takes a mere 20-30 seconds but can be key to keeping you healthy and preventing respiratory diseases. Germs can spread by touching surfaces and other people. Be sure to wash your hands:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.<\/li>\n<li>Before and after preparing food or eating.<\/li>\n<li>Before and after caring for someone else who is sick.<\/li>\n<li>After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol to clean your hands.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Covering Your Cough<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Respiratory viruses can spread through droplets that are released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. To limit the spread of respiratory viruses, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/flu-resources\/media\/pdfs\/2024\/08\/covercough_hcp11x17.pdf\">cover your mouth and nose<\/a> with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Put your used tissue in the waste basket.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have a tissue, cough into your upper sleeve or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Getting Immunized<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Everyone aged six months and older should get a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/influenza-flu-in-virginia\/influenza-prevention-protect-yourself-and-others-from-getting-the-flu\/\">flu vaccine<\/a> every year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/influenza-flu-in-virginia\/influenza-prevention-protect-yourself-and-others-from-getting-the-flu\/#noflu\">with a few exceptions<\/a>. Talk to a healthcare provider about which flu vaccines are recommended for you and your family.<\/p>\n<p>People aged six months and older should receive the COVID-19 vaccine based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/acip\/vaccine-recommendations\/shared-clinical-decision-making.html\">individual-based decision-making<\/a> with a healthcare provider.<\/p>\n<p>All adults aged 75 years and older are recommended to receive a single dose of one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/epidemiology\/epidemiology-fact-sheets\/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv\/\">RSV vaccine<\/a>. If you are 60-74 years old with a health condition, speak with your healthcare provider to decide if the RSV vaccine is the right choice for you. Pregnant women and parents of newborns should also talk with their provider about the benefits of RSV immunization.<\/p>\n<p>If you are sick, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/respiratory-diseases-in-virginia\/precautions-when-sick\/\">stay home<\/a> to prevent additional spread of respiratory virus.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about how to stay healthy during respiratory illness season and all year round, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/respiratory-diseases-in-virginia\/\">www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/respiratory-diseases-in-virginia\/<\/a> or visit <a href=\"https:\/\/covgov-my.sharepoint.com\/personal\/bryan_hooten_vdh_virginia_gov\/Documents\/rhhd.gov\">rhhd.gov<\/a>. Follow RHHD on Instagram (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/richmondcity_hd\">@richmondcity_hd<\/a>) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RichmondHenricoHealthDistricts\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 You can protect yourself and your family this fall from respiratory viruses like COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by doing some simple little things. Richmond and Henrico Health Districts share three little things for a healthy fall: washing your hands, covering your coughs and sneezes, and getting immunized. \u201cImmunization is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"parent":12292,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[28,29,166,1276,682,761],"class_list":["post-16115","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-covid-19","tag-flu","tag-flu-vaccine","tag-hand-washing","tag-richmond-and-henrico-health-districts","tag-rsv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>RHHD Encourages the \u2018Little Things\u2019 to Protect Against Respiratory Illnesses This Fall - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/archived-news-releases\/2025-regional-news-releases\/rhhd-encourages-the-little-things-to-protect-against-respiratory-illnesses-this-fall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RHHD Encourages the \u2018Little Things\u2019 to Protect Against Respiratory Illnesses This Fall - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RICHMOND, Va. \u2013 You can protect yourself and your family this fall from respiratory viruses like COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by doing some simple little things. 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