Good health habits like avoiding people who are sick, covering your cough and washing your hands often can help stop the spread of germs and prevent respiratory illnesses like flu. There also are flu antiviral drugs that can be used to treat and prevent flu

The tips and resources below will help you learn about additional actions you can take to protect yourself and others from flu and help stop the spread of germs.

Avoid close contact.

Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.

Stay home when you are sick.

If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. This will help prevent spreading your illness to others.

Cover your mouth and nose.

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. Flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk.

Clean your hands.

Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

Germs can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.

Practice other good health habits.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work or school, especially when someone is ill. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.

Preventing Flu at Work and School

At School

• Find out about plans your child’s school, childcare program, and/or college has if an outbreak of flu or another illness occurs and whether flu vaccinations are offered on-site.
• Make sure your child’s school, childcare program, and/or college routinely cleans frequently touched objects and surfaces, and that they have a good supply of tissues, soap, paper towels, alcohol-based hand rubs, and disposable wipes on-site.
• Ask how sick students and staff are separated from others and who will care for them until they can go home, and about the absentee policy for sick students and staff.

At Work

• Find out about your employer’s plans if an outbreak of flu or another illness occurs and whether flu vaccinations are offered on-site.
• Routinely clean frequently touched objects and surfaces, including doorknobs, keyboards, and phones, to help remove germs.
• Make sure your workplace has an adequate supply of tissues, soap, paper towels, alcohol-based hand rubs, and disposable wipes.
• Train others on how to do your job so they can cover for you in case you or a family member gets sick and you have to stay home.
• If you begin to feel sick while at work, go home as soon as possible.

Source: CDC.gov

Why You Need Snowmobile Insurance Buying Tips

Take It Seriously

For some reason, many snowmobilers treat snowmobile insurance like it’s separate from the rest of our lives. Maybe that’s because snowmobiling is our escape from daily reality. Perhaps it’s because we don’t treat our toys seriously. Or being a seasonal purchase, maybe sled insurance just plays second fiddle in our overall insurance picture. Also, I guess it’s human nature to assume that nothing bad will ever happen to us. Whatever the case, most of us don’t take our snowmobile insurance seriously enough.

Sure, we spend a relatively small amount of our lives sledding. At least compared to everything else we do. And it irks us to pay what may seem too high a premium for our few hours of fun on the snow. But would we still feel that way after tragedy struck while snowmobiling?

Catastrophic Outcomes

Most of us arrive home safely after every ride. In Ontario, almost 200,000 of us typically ride a cumulative total of over 150 million kilometres in a normal winter without serious incident. That’s not a bad track record. Unfortunately, when something goes wrong while sledding, the outcome can be very bad. Snowmobiles don’t offer much protection. Sleds don’t stop very quickly on snow and ice. Trees and rocks aren’t very forgiving. Bodies are soft and vulnerable. And we’re often a long way from help.

The long and short of it is that too many snowmobile-related tragedies are catastrophic. And catastrophic = expensive. Catastrophic = life changing. Catastrophic = financial disaster.

Risk Reality

But all can be survivable if you have good insurance after you’ve bought a new sled or a used one. Good sled insurance can help restore your life and health. It can take care of your bills, your loved ones and your future. It can give you peace of mind. On the other hand, inadequate sled insurance can make what is already a catastrophe much, much worse. And it’s too late to change after the fact. Yes, snowmobiling has inherent risks, as with any other powersports activity. But don’t compound your risk by ignoring good sled insurance. Snowmobiling isn't supposed to be that much of a crapshoot!

Have any questions? Contact Lallis & Higgins Insurance. 

Source: intrepidsnowmobiler.com

Halloween can be the spookiest night of the year, but keeping your pets safe doesn’t have to be tricky. The ASPCA recommends taking these simple, common sense precautions to keep your pet happy and healthy all the way to November 1.

Stash the Treats

The candy bowl is for trick-or-treaters, not Scruffy or Fluffy. Several popular Halloween treats are toxic to pets. Chocolate in all forms—especially dark or baking chocolate—can be very dangerous for cats and dogs, and sugar-free candies containing the sugar substitute xylitol can cause serious problems in pets.

Watch the Decorations and Keep Wires Out of Reach

While a carved jack-o-lantern certainly is festive, pets can easily knock over a lit pumpkin and start a fire. Curious kittens are especially at risk of getting burned or singed by candle flame. Popular Halloween plants such as pumpkins and decorative corn are considered relatively nontoxic, but can produce stomach discomfort in pets who nibble on them.

Be Careful with Costumes

For some pets, wearing a costume may cause undue stress. The ASPCA recommends that you don’t put your dog or cat in a costume unless you know he or she loves it. If you do dress up your pet for Halloween, make sure the costume does not limit his or her movement, sight or ability to breathe, bark or meow. Check the costume carefully for small, dangling or easily chewed-off pieces that could present a choking hazard. Ill-fitting outfits can get twisted on external objects or your pet, leading to injury.

Be sure to have your pet try on the costume before the big night. If he or she seems distressed or shows abnormal behavior, consider letting your pet wear his or her “birthday suit” or don a festive bandana instead.

Keep Pets Calm and Easily Identifiable

Halloween brings a flurry of activity with visitors arriving at the door, and too many strangers can often be scary and stressful for pets. All but the most social dogs and cats should be kept in a separate room away from the front door during peak trick-or-treating hours. While opening the door for guests, be sure that your dog or cat doesn’t dart outside. And always make sure your pet it wearing proper identification—if for any reason he or she does escape, a collar with ID tags and/or a microchip can be a lifesaver for a lost pet.

Source: ASPCA.org

Cyber scams are nothing new. Every day, con artists are looking for the best “marks.”

Think you’re not worth being the target of online predators? Think again!

Hackers don’t need to know how much is in your bank account to want to get into it. Your identity, your financial data, what’s in your email…… it’s all valuable. And cyber criminals will cast as wide a net as possible to get to anyone they can. They’re counting on you thinking you’re not a target.

So how can you reduce the chances of falling for the scams? Learn the signs!

Let’s start with the basics of “cyber hygiene,” easy and common-sense ways to protect yourself online.

Here are the 4 things you can do:

• Implement multi-factor authentication on your accounts and make it significantly less likely you’ll get hacked.
• Update your software. In fact, turn on automatic updates.
• Think before you click. More than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.
• Use strong passwords, and ideally a password manager to generate and store unique passwords.

Being cybersmart is contagious.

Our world is increasingly digital and increasingly interconnected. So, while we must protect ourselves, it’s going to take all of us to really protect the systems we all rely on. Being cyber smart is contagious. Take the four basic steps outlined above and help two friends do the same.

For more information, visit CISA’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month Resources page.

Your ability to get out of your home during a fire depends on advance warning from smoke alarms and advance planning

Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as one or two minutes to escape safely once the smoke alarm sounds. A closed door may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire. Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room and outside each separate sleeping area. Install alarms on every level of the home. Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.

Neighborhood safety is not just about feeling safe—it can also save you money and hassle. The average cost of a burglary is nearly $3,000. And burglars are likely to strike again in areas they hit once, so you have a lot to gain (and potential money to save) from creating solidarity with your neighbors.1

Neighborhood safety is a team effort, but it starts with you. What can you do to make your neighborhood a safer place? We have some simple tips here.

Make friends with neighbors

Familiarizing yourself with neighbors can be a win-win situation. Offer yourself as a resource in case of emergencies or help needed on their end; some neighbors might reciprocate the offer. See if they’re comfortable sharing their needs.

Are there small children you should look out for? Do you live next to an older couple that stays home but sometimes needs help? Does your neighbor have indoor pets, and should you call if you ever see the pets outside?

Planning get-togethers based on physical activity is a great way to get to know neighbors. Arrange to go on walks or to have your children play together outside. Ensure all kids are a safe distance away from traffic, and teach them safe rules for playing outside together.

Organize neighborhood safety efforts

Consider giving a Neighborhood Watch group a go in your neck of the woods. If you don’t know where to start with a neighborhood association, we outlined the steps to get Neighborhood Watch started in your area.

Developing a neighborhood calling tree could help when things go amiss in the neighborhood, whether it’s a property crime or something more sinister like violent crime.

You could also encourage neighbors to disclose safety/burglary incidents on a neighborhood safety app so others know what to look out for. These apps can flag specific crime occurrences so you’re not just relying on perceived neighborhood safety assumptions.

Be cautious about the neighborhood safety app you choose since Ring’s Neighbors app has been entangled with law enforcement in ways that raise privacy concerns. Think critically about what neighborhood incidents should involve police versus when you can turn to other public safety resources.

Keep up your yard

A well-kept yard can help deter crime since trimmed foliage offers fewer places to hide. And fences can, of course, keep unwanted visitors out.

But these backyard crime prevention measures can get pretty pricey sometimes. Lean on the free tips in our article if you want to stave off property crime but landscaping/construction isn’t in your current budget.

Exercise caution when out of town

To choose targets, burglars rely most on easily scannable visual cues.2 Details like building type and signs of vacancy fall under this umbrella. We can’t overstate the importance of making it look like you’re home when you are away.

Consider swapping offers with neighbors to keep an eye on each other’s homes when out of town. Even small efforts can deter crime.

Favors might include mowing your lawn, shoveling your walks, or picking up your mail and newspapers. You could even have a neighbor park a car in your driveway occasionally while you’re gone. Make sure to return the favor if payment isn’t involved.

Use timers or smart switches to turn on your lights, or find a smart security system that will allow you to turn lamps off and on remotely.

Close windows and blinds at night

A big-screen TV is a less enticing steal if no one knows it’s there. Leaving your blinds open and lights on at night provides a free look into your house, its layout, and the habits of its occupants. And leaving windows open at night or when you’re gone is an invitation for an uninvited guest to come on in.

Improve lighting on your street

Burglars often prefer to target neighborhoods with lower residential density.3 So if your neighborhood has few houses and lots of space, take special care to ensure that space is well lit. Streetlamps are not the only way to do this.

Ask that each household turn on their porch lights in the evenings and install motion-detector lights in the backs or sides of the house so potential intruders don’t have the darkness to hide in.

Burglars also prefer homes with multiple entry points or detached properties, so ensure that all doorways and pathways are well lit.3

Install a security system

Overall, one of the surest options for crime prevention in your neighborhood is to get a home security system and use it properly. We regularly update our list of the ten best home security systems—these are your best bets.

If you see something, say something

It’s not just for airports—being diligent in your neighborhood and speaking up when you see something out of place helps everyone on the block. Criminal justice expert and SafeWise advisor Dr. Ben Stickle says neighbors working together can make a big difference, especially with crimes like package theft. He also recommends filing a police report, even though odds of recovering goods swiped off the porch are low.

If package theft is a concern in your neck of the woods, work with neighbors to keep an eye out for deliveries and suspicious snoopers or cars. If one neighbor is home most days, see if they’re willing to collect packages that would be left unattended on other porches for hours.

And if you catch a package thief on your video doorbell, share the footage with neighbors—yours may not be the only home targeted.

Improving neighborhood safety is a team effort, but it needs to start with someone. As you get to know your neighbors, discuss your concerns, and apply some of the ideas above, you’ll find that your neighborhood becomes not only a safer place to be but a more enjoyable one.

Source: safewise.com

What do outdoor adventures look like for you? Whether it's an ATV, UTV, dirt bike, dune buggy, golf cart or other off-road vehicle (ORV), you'll want to make sure you have the right type of insurance coverage to protect your toys. It's important to ask your independent insurance agent - the right questions about what type of coverage you're seeking and customize it to fit your lifestyle.

1. What typical coverages are available for ATV/UTVs?

Ask your agent or broker about standard coverages that are available, as well as optional ones you might consider. Standard coverages include Collision, Other Than Collision, Liability and Medical Payments. They help provide coverage for damage to your ATV itself or damage or injury that you may cause while riding your ATV.

2. Is my safety apparel covered?

Whether it's helmets, goggles or other clothing that helps minimize injuries from an accident, most companies will offer safety apparel coverage for when these things get damaged. We want riders to be as safe as possible while enjoying the outdoors, so we encourage wearing safety gear.

3. Is there optional equipment coverage available?

Most people have customized or added options to their ATVs. Optional Equipment coverage helps cover things like towable trailers, racks and winch kits for your ATV.

4. Am I able to insure my ATV/UTV year-round?

Year-round coverage is definitely something you may want to consider. Some policies have a lay-up period for colder weather when you may not be able to ride. But when an unusually warm day comes around and you want to take your ATV out, you might be stuck without coverage. A year-round policy lets you take it out whenever Mother Nature's providing good weather and, with some companies, you can do this for the same price as seasonal coverage.

5. What kinds of discounts are available?

Everybody wants to save money. Ask what's available for you. Some companies, like Foremost, offer discounts for things like multi-units, multi-policies, maintaining continuous coverage when you renew and for having prior off-road vehicle insurance.

Your safety is number one to us. Stay safe wherever you choose to go on your off-road vehicle.

For more information, contact Lallis & Higgins Insurance.

Source: foremost.com

Looking for the perfect fall drive to see the best foliage? These road trips offer colorful foliage and incredible views.

This autumn, take advantage of cooler temperatures and beautiful foliage by planning a fall road trip through some of our most scenic regions.

New England's Historic Trails, Massachusetts

This "road trip" should start on foot in Boston: Walk the Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile, red-lined route that leads you to 16 historically significant sites, then hop in the car and head west through Massachusetts' Berkshires, taking in plenty of fall colors along the way. Make a detour to Northampton or stop in the living museum that is Old Sturbridge Village. Eager for more history? Travel south through Connecticut, leaving New England as you cross through New York to Philadelphia, and visit the Museum of the American Revolution.

Rhode Island

Take a drive through the country's smallest state, which is packed with fall activities without too much drive time between each. Start at the Rail Explorers excursion in Newport, where pedal-powered vehicles trace historic railroad tracks on 90-minute tours. Then head to Bristol to take in some historic mansions like Blithewold. Finally, make your way along Rhode Island's Brewery Trail, which includes 39 watering holes conveniently located off I-95 and State Highways 138 and 114. Don't miss Foolproof Brewing Company in Pawtucket.

Covered Bridges Loop, Connecticut

Take your time exploring the roughly 100-mile loop through the northwest corner of Connecticut.

Pass through the Falls Village in Canaan, where the churches, streets, houses, and the railroad depot still look as they did in the 1800s. The Appalachian Trail runs right through town, so you can follow the white trail markers for a day hike. Pass through the West Cornwall Covered Bridge, which covers 242 feet of the Housatonic River, visit Lake Waramaug State Park for hiking and fall foliage, and then head to Litchfield to marvel at the gardens at White Flower Farm.

Source: travelandleisure.com

Lallis & Higgins Insurance reminds motorists that wet leaves, fog, sun glare and frost are a few driving hazards they will encounter this fall, but there are steps drivers can take to help make their commutes safer.

As leaves begin to fall, wet leaves on the roadway can be as slippery as ice. They also can obscure traffic lines and other pavement markings, making driving in unfamiliar areas particularly difficult. Motorists should slow down and use extra caution on leaf-covered roadways.

Other fall hazards for motorists can be fog and sun glare. When driving in fog, motorists should use low beam headlights since the high beam setting creates glare and reduces visibility. Not only will headlights enhance visibility of your vehicle, state law requires headlights be on when wipers are in use.

Sun glare can be most problematic during sunrise and sunset, which coincide with morning and evening rush hours. The intense glare from the sun on the horizon can blind a driver, causing an unexpected traffic slowdown. Drivers can prepare for the glare by keeping a set of sunglasses handy, removing clutter from their sun visors and keeping the inside of their vehicle's windshield clean.

Also, morning frost and icy spots on the road can also cause problems as overnight temperatures drop toward freezing. Motorists should pay particular attention to bridges, overpasses and shaded areas on roadways where icy spots can form on the pavement. In addition to exercising caution while driving, motorists should clear their vehicles' windows of frost before travel.

Fall driving tips:

• Increase your following distance in severe weather, at dusk and dawn and when in an area with wet leaves. If you are being tailgated, let the other driver pass.
• Check your vehicle's headlights, taillights and turn signals to ensure they are working properly since darkness will be a part of many driver's morning and/or evening commutes. Make sure you turn on your headlights as the sunlight fades.
• Have your vehicle's heating and wiper systems checked to ensure they are working properly.
• Be sure you have tires with sufficient tread depth in case of an early season snow.

Fall Roadway Hazards Include Deer

Autumn brings an increase in deer activity, and drivers are reminded to watch carefully for deer darting across and along roadways.

Fall marks the deer's breeding season, and deer pay less attention and become bolder as they move around more and travel greater distances seeking mates. Primarily nocturnal feeders, deer are most active between sunset and sunrise. Other factors that affect the travel patterns of deer in the fall are farmers actively harvesting the last of their crops and preparing for spring planting, increased activity in the woods from hunters seeking game and outdoor enthusiasts enjoying the last remaining days of good weather.

By following a few safety tips, motorists and outdoor enthusiasts can help reduce the possibility of being involved in a crash with a deer. Remember to:

• Slow down and use caution, particularly where deer crossing signs are posted and increase following distance between vehicles;
• Make young drivers aware of increased deer movement;
• Be especially watchful during morning and evening hours when wildlife is most active;
• Exercise caution when one deer crosses a roadway. Since deer often travel in small herds, one deer will usually be followed by others;
• Always wear your seat belt;
• Never drive impaired; and
• Turn on your headlights if your wipers are on — it's the law.

If a dead deer presents an obvious safety hazard on state roadways, motorists can call 1-800-FIX-ROAD to have the deer removed.

Source: penndot.pa.gov

Each floor of the home needs a separate detector. If you are getting a single carbon monoxide detector, place it near the sleeping areas and make certain the alarm is loud enough to wake you up.

How do I install my CO alarm?

Follow the installation instructions found in the manufacturer's use and care booklet that accompanies the product. Proper installation is an important factor in receiving optimum performance. It's important to follow these instructions exactly.

Do CO alarms operate differently than smoke alarms?

Although they may look and sound similar, CO alarms and smoke alarms are designed and intended to detect two separate, distinct hazards. Therefore, to help protect your family from both hazards, it's important to install both UL Listed CO alarms and smoke detectors.

How do I take care of my CO alarm?

Like smoke detectors, CO alarms need to be tested regularly and cleaned as indicated in the manufacturer's use and care booklet. If the unit operates off a battery, test the detector weekly and replace the battery at least once a year.

Should I follow any safety tips for using and maintaining my CO alarms?

As with any product, read the manufacturer's use and care booklet for installation and maintenance guidelines. Keep these instructions on file for future reference.

If your unit operates off the battery, never allow anyone to "borrow" the battery. Like any appliance or power tool, a CO alarm can't work unless it has a functioning power source.

Source: epa.gov