The cold and flu season is just kicking off, and already I have been affected. I have been battling a virus for the past week.

Living on a college campus, the spread of sickness is a serious concern. It is easy for one person to catch something and then spread it around their dormitory in a week.

Let me state the obvious: cover your mouth when you cough. I have seen countless people coughing their cloud of sickness into the air without any attempt to control it. That one is just common courtesy.

On top of that, it always is a good idea to not use your hands when covering your mouth. You use your hands constantly throughout the day. If you cough into your hands, you basically are setting your germs on a golden platter to be served to any object you come in contact with.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using a tissue to cover coughs and sneezes, then immediately discarding it. If there are no tissues, cough into your upper sleeve, not your hand.

Students also need to use their best judgment when determining if they should miss classes. With finals looming, many students might ignore their illness to be present for lectures. While your diligence is commendable, the rest of us — your classmates — will be harmed for it.

One of the best ways to get better is by resting and staying home. Your body needs to have time to work through the sickness. Not only that, but going to a huge lecture hall with a nasty cough or sneeze only furthers the likelihood that you are spreading something to your peers.

Any of the medical centers around campus will give you a doctors’ note, and any decent professor should understand. According to Olin Health Center, students’ absences should be excused if they experience flu-like illnesses.

I like to think that I am a good student and I rarely miss classes. But last week I had to make the tough choice to get some rest instead of heading to class. If I didn’t let myself recover, I would feel much worse. I even had to take a day off of work for some R&R.

Finally, make sure you are completely healthy before you return to business as usual. Nobody wants to miss out on any great weekend social activities, but your health should be the main concern.

If you are thinking about going out and drinking with friends, you might want to wait until you are back at 100 percent.

If you are taking medicine such as antibiotics, you should definitely stay away from any kind of alcohol until you are done with the medicine. Some medicines can react very negatively with alcohol, ranging anywhere from drowsiness to potential heart problems and internal bleeding.

The cold and flu season is an annual battle for college students and let’s face it, we will lose. So when you inevitably fall under the weather, hopefully some of these tips come in handy.