Healthy
Living -- pages 20 - 25
To your Health !
- Flu Concerns -
It ' s flu season - for decades we have realized that although winter brings us holidays we look forward to , that togetherness often causes family members to fall ill in the weeks after the celebration . Already this year , we have received warnings from medical professionals and organizations that two years after COVID emerged , we are still at risk .
This year ' s flu vaccine is supposed to protect us from the latest strains of the virus , and scientists say that so far , it has . But only 25 percent of us have received the flu shot , only 15 percent have received their latest COVID booster - and the sheltering done during the pandemic prohibited many kids and teens from getting some immunity from infection by getting the flu . Another worry is RSV , a virus that has sickened thousands of young people nationwide , and caused a large rise in hospitalizations in pediatric hospitals recently .
And there is the recent jump in COVID infection on top of those concerns . The biggest issue three months into the flu season ? A sudden medication shortage and ongoing staffing issues , leftover from the COVID pandemic .
Add it up and the fact is clear - if you get sick in the next 60 days or so , you may not be able to get the care you need at the hospital of your choice .
What to do ? It may be time to re-adopt the actions taken to calm COVID-19 - stay six feet away from others , wear masks outside your home , and try to avoid populated places . But there is more advice that could be just as important - increase exercise in any way you can and eat well - healthy and less processed food , as well as Vitamins C and D , can build up your immune system to help ward off infection .
Flu season normally peaks between December and February . The off-the-chart infection numbers we saw in early November could be an outlier - it could be this year ' s peak . Or it could foretell that an even higher surge is yet to come . It remains to be seen whether the current early flu surge will translate to an early flu peak - or instead foretell a protracted period of extraordinarily high transmission , stressing health care employees even further .
It ' s time for the media to raise awareness , even though many of us are sick of hearing about being sick - because what ' s not clear is how much more strain the American healthcare system can absorb .
Source : CDC and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
William R . Forse , OD
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