Break has just ended, the sun is shining, and spring is in the air. You know what else is in the air?  A multitude of immune-damaging pathogens.

Coming off the heels of spring break, many of us are returning with more than just a tan. According to a very legitimate-sounding Wikipedia article, take a large group of people and spread them all across the world for one week, and they are bound to come back with some less-than-savory bacteria, likely contracted in or due to the changing environment.

Even if one does manage to avoid the myriad malicious micro-organisms running rampant this time of year, an additional danger comes in the form of the very flowers and trees that we were once admiring.  Allergies can be equally debilitating as actual illness, and despite the fact that they may seem less of a big deal, there is no reason to turn one’s nose up at a particularly bad case of the sniffles.

Read further for some helpful precautions you can take if you find yourself under our sunny weather.

For many of us, our enrollment here at WSU implies us having at one point graduated from kindergarten. So with that in mind, it is important to remember the basics, such as “actually washing your hands.”

And while it can be tempting and one can feel as if between school, work, homework, and social commitments there just isn’t time to spend at the sink, understand that when you are using a public restroom and you just flush and leave, the communal opinion of everyone else in the facility is that you’re really, really gross.

The washing of ones hands is not a social skill, or even really a skill at all.

However, if you really feel you need to practice, a good way to do so is by going to the store, buying some raw fish, gloves, and rubber bands. Then go into the bathroom, forgetting entirely your useless purchases and approach the sink and just wash your dang hands.

Other than washing hands, there are a couple additional precautions that one can take to avoid spending a week in the fetal position comforted only by Netflix.

First off, even at the expense of feeling crappy about your selfish decisions, try to avoid your sick friends if at all possible.

Sick friends are like the campus squirrels. While they may seem all sad and cute and whatnot, getting close to them incurs the risk of contracting a disease. 

But what is one to do if, despite precautions, you find yourself infiltrated by illness?

The best thing to do in this unfortunate conundrum is of course to stay in bed. However, as we (and occasionally our grades) are all explicitly aware, attendance policies are not always accommodating to the common sick day.

If a day of tea and self-pity is not in the cards for you, a good option is to just show up to class looking as pathetic as possible. Perhaps invest in a face mask from Health and Wellness, or for girls put on some makeup the night before and try to sleep mostly on your face. This way your teachers can really see how crappy you feel, and may even have a bit more sympathy for you if you end up taking the whole rest of the week off.