Keeping you safe from the flu: How you can prevent getting it and spreading it

The flu is spreading faster this year than years before and the cooler weather isn’t helping.

“I have a 94-year-old mother,” said Barbara Cyr from Cape Coral. She says her mother gets the flu shot just like the rest of the family.

“We don’t want to get sick,” she said. One reason she’s careful about going out in public: “It’s very important. At her age, that could be death.”

A Great Clips hair salon just off Daniels Parkway in Lee County is just trying to play its part by posting a sign on the door asking folks to reschedule their appointments if they’re contagious with illnesses like the flu.

The Florida Cosmetology Law Book confirms employees cannot serve people who are contagious.

“That’s great advice,” said Dr. Richard Boone, a physician in Cape Coral. “The way we can stop the spread of the flu is to not go out when we have a fever,” he warns.

Many of those who commented on our above Facebook post on the matter said they wish more business posted signs like this one.

Christine said she’d like to see them at the gym and Eleanor says her stylist posted something similar last year after getting sick three times.

The owner of this Great Clips said his employees rely on tips and if they’re out sick, they’re missing out on money to make ends meet.

And Cyr says it’s not just the flu. “What we can do, we try to do. I don’t want to get bronchitis.”

Keep this in mind if you’re traveling for the holidays: the latest update from the CDC shows the highest flu activity in the deep south, including Texas, Mississippi and Georgia.