It’s every mother’s mantra: Cover your mouth when you cough. During flu season, it’s the best advice you can give any child — or adult – who wants to avoid the flu. The flu virus is passed from one person to the other through fluids from mouth and nose secretions. When we cough and sneeze, those droplets go into the air.

“It’s our responsibility to cover mouth and nose so those droplets don’t go into the air… so they don’t spread to other people,” says James Mamary, MD, a pulmonologist with Temple Lung Center at Temple University Health System in Philadelphia.

Prevent Flu: Cover Up When You Sneeze or Cough