The time has come for the annual season of incessant coughs and sneezes echoing in the hallways at Coppell High School: flu season.

According to the CDC, flu season occurs between the months of October and March, but the peak occurs between December and February.

Over the past couple of weeks, the flu has been affecting a multitude of CHS students. As a result, many students have missed school.

“We’re just now starting to see [more students catching the flu] after the [winter break] and we’re just now starting to see more fevers,” CHS nurse Beth Dorn said.

After getting back from break, there have been more students out due to sickness than from before the break. Students returned to campus Jan. 3.

“[The amount of absence notes has] kind of been steady but there’s been a lot more notes because [students] were ill or had a fever or missed like three days, [which] seems to have been all last week,” assistant principal secretary Amy Stroh said.

Unfortunately, some students do not want to miss school because it causes them to miss material that was taught in class, hindering their ability to concentrate in class. This is ultimately worse for them and the students around them than staying at home.

“I was really tired and I was very fatigued so I couldn’t really focus on my work,” said senior Simin Bhayani, who had the flu a couple of weeks ago. “It makes me kinda mad because it affects my grades and I don’t want that to affect my college applications.”

Students are sent home by the school nurse if they have a 100 degree fever. School policy states that a student must be fever free for 24 hours before returning back to school without the use of ibuprofen or Tylenol.

“I got sick during exam week and it really really sucked,” senior Riley Zaworski said. “I was always tired doing classwork and I didn’t feel good and so I constantly had a trash can near me just in case. [Being sick] just kinda took a toll on my learning and it was difficult.”

Although flu season is inevitable, there are many ways to prevent catching it.

“The best things you can do are to wash your hands and to get the flu shot,” Dorn said. “Also, wiping down surfaces [can help prevent the flu]. Get antibacterial or clorox wipes and wipe down computers, keyboards, telephones, door knobs, to help prevent transmission of the flu.”