Yes, I'm starting off another ski blog season with sneezing. Why? Because last year at Steamboat, I lost one day to skiing because of vomiting and diarrhea. And at Snowshoe the year before in 2017 I lost two days of skiing to the same thing. In both cases probably from some norovirus I consumed at our group meals.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 17 million workdays are lost to the flu and an amazing 150 million workdays lost to the common cold. These losses add up to over $30 billion dollars of worker productivity. We also spend another $5 billion on hospital and doctor office visits because of these illnesses.
Sadly, no government agency keeps tabs on how many days skiers and snowboarders lose to these three most common forms of illness. But I know that in my lovely Steamboat condo last year, I wasn't the only only one laid up and feeling lousy. And I missed out on skiing with my favorite student that week because Steve was under the weather too.
If you've been sick on a ski trip, I don't need to name names, however. You know who you are and just how disappointed you were that you missed out on fun and frolic.
Here's a reminder about how to avoid the cold and flu:
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Get a flu shot.
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Wash your hands.
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Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze and cough and make sure others do the same.
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Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
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Clean and disinfect surfaces that lots of people touch, such as faucets and microwave touchpads.
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Stay away from sick people.
There's not much anyone can do to stay away from a norovirus. You get infected from food that is not properly washed or cooked. So with me, somehow I was the lucky person at both group meals that got bad food. I'm thinking the salads were to blame but who knows? I will, however, not be eating salad at the next group meal for sure.
It's bad enough that a few of our club members lose on-snow days to injury. This season, let's be proactive to stay healthy so we can enjoy our trips.