We are a pretty healthy family. My kids don’t get sick very often (except seasonal allergies) but when they do, they go down hard. This past week everyone in the house was sick with colds/ ear infections except me. I had kids at the doctor’s office four times and I was afraid to touch anything in the waiting room because everyone around me looked sicker than my children!
I’m glad my family has not been struck by the flu, minus the terrible winter of 2007. I think this is mainly due to a healthy diet, flu prevention at home, and our dislike of public places. I’m kidding about the last one, but in 2009, when the swine flu was rampant in our area we did avoid many public places and stayed healthy all winter.
Since I have chosen not to give my children the flu shot, I was excited to learn about Theraflu, WheresFlu tracker. This handy free app for Android, BlackBerry, and iTunes follows sickness incidence levels from week to week and keeps track of the current top 5 affected cities in the nation. The WheresFlu™ app will find your current location and provide you with results for that area. Or you can enter your ZIP code to get information for that area.
Wheresflu™ categorizes incidences of illness as follows: Low (0-5% population affected); Moderate (5-10% population affected); High (10-15% population affected); Very High (>15% population affected).
Thankfully our area is rated low, but I won’t be visiting Fort Smith, AR, Erie, PA, or Fort Wayne, IN, anytime soon. Those are the top three cities currently affected by the flu. If you are traveling soon, this is a great app to pinpoint cities to avoid! Or at least get a mask and some rubber gloves before you touch anything while visiting!
If you haven’t been able to avoid the flu this season you definitely want to download the WheresFlu tracker. The app has a $2.00 off coupon good for any Theraflu product. Just follow the directions on the app and the coupon will be emailed to you.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post through the Momtrends Blogger Outreach program for WheresFlu.
I did a double take when I saw Fort Wayne listed as one of the top 3. That’s my nearest big city, and I didn’t expect to find out it’s a high-flu city right now! I’ll have to take precautions…good to know.