Tips to avoid getting the flu from your smartphone

With the flu spreading throughout Florida, it’s likely you’ve got it, had it or at least know somebody who has.
Flu activity is high and continues to increase, according to the Florida Department of Health. Viruses like the flu, can survive on inanimate objects like mobile phones, during flu season. But we can all take steps to avoid getting the flu from our smartphones or tablet.

These days, people take their phones with them everywhere they go, from the gym to the bathroom and then to the dinner table, even to bed. Throughout your day, you inevitably shake hands, touch doorknobs and staircase railings – and then you touch your phone and put it against your face.

AT&T offers these tips to help you avoid getting the flu and other harmful germs from your smartphone:

- Consider getting a flu shot.

- If you are sick and experiencing flu symptoms, do not share your phone with anyone. (Best to stay home to avoid infecting others.)

- Wash your hands frequently.

- You can carefully wash your cell phone. If you think it has been contaminated, disinfect your phone. Use a wrung-out disinfectant wipe or spray a paper towel with disinfectant. Don’t spray the phone.

- Use a Bluetooth device or other hands-free headset to minimize your keypad-to-face exposure.

- You can try Cold Sense, a free app that evaluates a user’s potential exposure to a cold and can tell the prevalence of coughs and sneezes around you, tracks hours of sleep and even “sick” friends in your social network,

- Fitbits and other activity tracking wearable devices may be able to sense you have the flu before you do, since many can track changes in heart rate during exercise and rest, calories and fluids taken etc