Hollister
– Wash your hands, cover your cough and be wary of those
sniffling co-workers. Flu season is coming on strong in
Hollister.
Hollister – Wash your hands, cover your cough and be wary of those sniffling co-workers. Flu season is coming on strong in Hollister.
Local physicians and health clinics are reporting a spike in the number of patients reporting the flu and flu-like symptoms.
“We have seen a large increase in flu-like symptoms over the last of 10 days to a week,” said Ben Shaver, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital’s emergency room director. “Especially in young people about 6 months to 7 years, it’s been about double what we would normally see.”
In the past 10 days, Shaver said, Hazel Hawkins been seeing six to 10 patients coming into the emergency room with flu-like symptoms in any given 24-hour period. Shaver said one doctor reported three positive flu swabs in one 12-hour shift.
The flu season typically lasts from November to March, said San Benito County Health Officer Liz Falade.
“The last couple years, the peaks have been in December,” Falade said. “This season was very quiet until recently.”
Falade emphasized that it’s not too late to get a flu shot. Young children, the elderly and anyone with a weak immune system should be vaccinated, she said.
“We encourage everyone to get the shot,” Falade said. “It’s still an immunization that can save lives and certainly save days off of work, days in bed and days not feeling well.”
Falade said the county’s Health Services Department has provided about 650 flu vaccinations this year. Hundreds more patients have received the shot from their family physicians, she said.
Amy McCann, who works for the YMCA after-school program, said her staff has been particularly hard-hit by the flu this year.
“We all got it here in the office,” she said. “Out of our staff, I would say that six out of 21 were sick. That was unusual. Usually we get a couple of staff that get sick, but not at the same time.”
The reason for the recent spike in influenza outbreaks is unknown, although Shaver said he thought it might be related to the unusually dry winter weather Hollister has been having this year.
“When the weather is altered, I think that does have an affect on when the virus decides to become active,” Shaver said. “Hopefully, with the warmer weather we’ll see a definite decline in the next two weeks.”
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. You can reach her at (831) 637-5566 ext. 336 or at
aj**@fr***********.com
.
