It’s that cringe-worthy moment we all dread: when your spouse comes down with a nasty GI virus, or your child sprays you with a sneeze, or your coworker insists on coming to work sick and then coughs all over the office supplies. You reach for the hand sanitizer and think: “Please keep me healthy.”

“At the end of the day, the world really belongs to the germs, and we just live here,” says Joseph McBride, MD, a UW Health infectious disease expert. “It’s probably very likely that we will come down with something this winter, and we do what we can to lower the risk to our loved ones. But all the efforts we take don’t eliminate the risk; it just lowers the risk.”

At this time of year, influenza or respiratory viruses are the most likely to spread, though gastrointestinal and even bacterial gastrointestinal illnesses can transmitted through household contact, too. While we can’t encase ourselves in a bubble, simple preventative measures can make a difference, McBride says. He shares these tips on how to stay healthy when illness strikes your home or workplace.