This year’s flu season has made a huge impact among Palo Alto High School students, with a significant increase of students coming down with the flu.

After caring for Paly students for more than a decade, Paly nurse Jennifer Kleckner says that she has definitely seen an uptick of students staying home during the past few months due to the especially prevalent flu season.

This claim is also supported by statistics from the Paly attendance office. There were 378 students who stayed home from school due to health reasons within the two weeks of school in December. The figure only includes students who were out for more than two periods in the day due to health reasons. This number was almost equal to the 444 students who stayed home due to health reasons during the entire month of October.

While many students are aware of the rapid spread of the flu, not many students know about how nurse Kleckner is more than happy to help out. She has a couple pieces of advice for preventing and lessening the effects of the flu.

“Getting in touch with your doctor and seeing if there is a need for a vaccine is crucial,” Kleckner said. “If you do ever get diagnosed with the flu, it is best to stay home from school, not only to avoid spreading the virus to other students, and also for your own safety.”

Below is an attached infographic about this year’s flu season using evidence from the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.