TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Flu season started early and hit harder—at least in terms of the number of cases. Pima County for example has about five times as many cases as it did this same time last year and we’re about to enter the time of year when the flu really takes off.
Lindsay Kohler manages epidemiology for the Pima County Health Department and she keeps track of the stats.
“In the last week, we've had 51 cases in Pima County, and at the same time last year we only had 10 cases. So we do always anticipate seeing an increase around this time of year. We're just seeing it a little bit earlier than usual.”
She says we’d normally see numbers like that about two weeks later in the season.
Higher numbers mean higher concern cases will have an extra large spike when holiday travel helps the flu jump person to person in a cross country germ swap.
She says, “This flu season is starting on the West Coast and in the southwest of the United States. So we are at a higher level than the rest of the country right now, and it will slowly move across the United States here in the next few weeks.”
The good news is nothing suggests this year’s strain of the flu makes you any sicker than last year’s variety—so it’s no more likely to put you in the hospital.
Health officials say a flu shot is still a good idea, especially for older people and people who already have medical conditions that make them more vulnerable.
This year there are different types of vaccine: the older style that uses a killed sample of the virus to stimulate your immune system and the newer type that uses mRNA to help your system fight off the virus.
Kohler says vaccines made with the older technique can make a case of the flu less severe but the MRNA vaccine has a better chance of preventing the flu altogether.
