The beginning of the 2016 school year is much like any other. The seasons are changing, the days are getting shorter, and everyone is getting sick. While there is no stopping Fall, there is a solution to sickness.

Pleasant Valley, like other schools, has yearly cases of different illnesses. From common colds to staph infections, it is similar year after year. Because of how close students get to so many other students, germs can spread very easily. Many students come to school unaware of the contagion they carry. School nurse, Pam Cinadar, warns students of the dangers of transferrable illness: “The big thing here is lack of hygiene. Washing hands before and after meals and refraining from touching [students’] faces would make a world of difference.” Many teachers keep bottles of hand-sanitizer in their rooms. There is also a dispenser on the column leading into the kitchen in the cafeteria. Even though no one can truly be safe from illness, there are simple ways to be safer. According to Cinadar, covering your cough and sneeze with an inner-arm or a tissue also prevents the spread of germs.

This year at PV, skin infections have been showing up in greater numbers. Many athletes have been affected by bacterial skin infections. “Many of these students use the same dirty gym clothes all week long. The bacteria can just grow on them. That’s why schools with gym uniforms have less outbreaks–the uniforms are washed every day,” Cinadar explains. Because of this, students are urged to take their gym clothes home every night and wash them. Illness may continue to be reality in public schools, but with the help of personal hygiene there could be less of it in years to come.