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The Flu Is Spreading Faster Than Normal This Year
Tuesday November 29, 2022
Early data on the 22-23 Flu Season has been daunting so far:
(Vox.com)
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Flu View report show extraordinarily high numbers of positive flu tests reported to the agency from labs around the US. As of November 5, nearly 14,000 positive flu tests had been reported, as shown in the orange line on the below chart. That’s more than 12 times the number reported at the same time in 2019 (shown in the black line). (Vox)
Other stats have shown that positive Flu test rates are much higher this year. During past years, the peak of positive flu test results was around 3.6%. This year, it has already been as high as 13%. “When a higher proportion of tests are positive, that means more people who are feeling sick actually have the flu than in past years.” (Vox)
Protect Yourself
There are many ways to protect yourself and others during flu season. Primarily, the flu vaccine is free with most insurance plans. Both dominant strains of Flu are included in this year’s vaccine formulation. There is also medicine to treat the flu if you get it. Read up on these medicines on the CDC website. Finally, the easiest way to avoid the flu is to wear PPE.
Flu transmission actually dropped dramatically during the pandemic. In the chart above, look at the blue lines, which represent cases reported over the last two years. You can see that there were very few positive tests in 2020, when mitigation measures — like widespread masking — were still in place and most kids weren’t in school buildings. Transmission picked up in 2021, but was on track with prior seasons — and was probably curbed beginning late in the year due to increased masking and social distancing in response to the omicron surge of Covid-19. (Vox)
ProPac supplies a large amount of PPE to agencies and customers nationwide. Browse our online store to find the exact product you’re looking for:
