With masks off and social distancing guidelines largely at an end, this flu season is hitting hard.
Calloway County is currently in the peak of flu season which has been made much worse this year than during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the pandemic hit during the spring of 2020, it caused large amounts of health procedures to be introduced that weren’t common before. The Center for Disease Control recommended that people maintain a distance of six feet between them and to wear face masks to help prevent the virus spreading.
These procedures helped limit the cases of COVID-19, but also had the side effect of lowering the number of flu, even during the months that normally see flu cases peak, December and February.
The CDC said that flu activity was unusually low in the 2020-2021 season.
Now that these procedures have ended, this flu season is seeing a resurgence. Calloway County Health Department Nurse Administrator Angela Thomas, said, “This season has been statistically worse for influenza than previous years.”
Alongside the flu there are other illnesses that people need to keep an eye out for. Covid is still present, despite no longer being considered a pandemic, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are both viruses to look out for.
Flu cases are picking back up as the CDC warned health care centers in the area that this season would probably be worse than during the pandemic. Thomas said, “They wanted us to get ahead of it.” With this notice, both smaller health clinics and the Murray-Calloway County Hospital had a chance to be more prepared. Kentucky as a whole is at a high risk for the flu, according to a weekly survey from the CDC.
The CCHD said there have been 443 confirmed cases of the flu and 366 cases of COVID-19 in Calloway County. These numbers do not include those who tested positive at home.
The risk for catching the flu is higher as well, with 14.8% of cases testing positive nationally as of Feb. 17, it is important to stay healthy and try to prevent spread of the virus.
The most obvious way to stay healthy is to wash your hands, but another tip is to stay home if you are feeling sick or wear masks. “If you are immunocompromised, wear a mask,” Thomas said.
Another way to stay healthy is to be vaccinated against the flu, especially if you are more at risk of severe illness. “Kentucky as a whole is currently reporting a 43.2% vaccination rate against the flu,” Thomas said. While being vaccinated is not a guarantee, it greatly reduces your chances of getting sick.
