Sick season settles in across region

By Carleen Wild
Moody County Enterprise
If it feels like everyone you know has been sick lately, you’re not imagining it.
From infants battling RSV, to classrooms with half-empty desks, to daycares walking a careful line between caring for little ones and trying to keep illness from spreading, winter has arrived with more than just cold temperatures. Hand, foot and mouth disease has been making the rounds. Flu cases are climbing. And many families are keeping sick babies and toddlers home — often a tough call, as it means more juggling for already tired moms and dads.
As of Feb. 4, the South Dakota Department of Health reported 92 confirmed flu cases in Moody County, with three hospitalizations. But anyone who’s lived through one of our winters knows those numbers rarely capture the full picture. Not everyone gets tested. Many simply ride it out with tissues, soup, and the hope that it passes quickly.
The reminders this time of year remain the same: wash your hands often, get enough rest, and try not to touch your eyes or nose — two of the most common entry points for illness.
If I may add one more, offered not as medical advice but as lived experience.
Decades ago, while under the care of a physician who was also the head of Internal Medicine at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, I came in with the same miserable sinus infection that knocked me out of work every year for at least a week. Her advice was simple: if I wanted the cycle to stop, I should buy a neti pot (nasal sinus rinse) — and use it religiously.
I did. And I still do.
The annual sinus infections I once counted on have largely disappeared. My allergies are more manageable and typically without medication. And while sickness circulates all around right now, I’ve been able to avoid — or at least fight off — much of what’s going around.
Knock on wood.
Neti pots are inexpensive, require distilled water and a salt packet, and take just a few moments each day. You can stop into Lewis Drug or just about any drug store and find one. They’re not pretty to use, but they beat feeling miserable, needing a doctor’s visit, filling prescriptions, paying the bills that follow — and missing work or school.
Winter will always test our immune systems. Sometimes the best tools aren’t new or flashy — just consistent, thoughtful care for ourselves and one another.