We might be really enjoying the break from what may seem like the hottest summer in memory. But those far more comfortable days ahead while more temperate, also come with a few little details we might not want to think about, details that more than override the frigid temperatures and icy roads.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, we are at the start of flu season. The CDC says beginning in October and lasting through May, the flu bug is targeting anyone it can. Peak flu months, it says, are December and January.
“We’re already offering the flu vaccine,” said Katie Davis, Deputy Director of the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment. Davis also suggests, particularly for the young and elderly, getting the flu shot “by the end of October.” The department is also offering COVID and RSV immunization. RSV stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a virus that usually targets infants and those with weakened immune systems.
While Davis says the forecast for this season’s flu is not expected to be high, it’s also important to know that influenza can be dangerous. Each year, the flu comes with its own mortality rates. Last year, the CDC recorded more than 6,500 U.S. deaths or 1.9 per 100,000 population. Serious cases of the flu can also mean hospitalization.
The most recent year in which influenza was declared a public health epidemic was 2009. That year it was the H1N1 pandemic in which the CDC reported “hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations.” Worldwide, that same variety of the virus also claimed more than 300,000 lives.
In a more contemporary vein, 1968’s Hong Kong flu hit with a vengeance. That year the CDC recorded more than 100,000 U.S. fatalities and as many as four million deaths worldwide.
Still, while public health officials are confident they’ll be able to handle this year’s variety, they also say that the COVID years and ‘The Great Influenza’ taught lessons about viruses that should never be forgotten.
U.S. deaths from COVID topped a million, while worldwide, it’s estimated that more than seven million deaths occurred. But history has warned that no virus can be ignored. In the 1918 version of flu, it is estimated that as many as 50 million deaths resulted worldwide, including more than 675,000 in the U.S. It should be noted that the U.S. population at that time was only 103 million.
There is a range of impacts the flu can have. For some, it can come and go with aches, pains and fever and be gone in as quickly as a week. For others, it can linger and create severe pain. But with a flu shot, which is not a guarantee that you won’t be infected, the symptoms should be weaker.
Also, Davis says, it is not true, as many continue to say each year, that the flu shot actually causes the flu. In this, she is firm. “You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine.”
In Pueblo, flu shots will be available at a number of different locations Including drug stores and, for some, there will be no charge. Davis says insurance will cover the costs, but it might be wise to first check with your insurer. For others, costs will be based on a scale. While Pueblo’s health department will be focusing on Pueblo city and county residents, no one will be turned away, she said.
Davis says the both the flu and COVID shots are not without consequences. But as consequences go, a minor aching or lethargy from the shots is significantly better than getting the virus. One reason Davis says it’s important to get the flu shot early is because it usually takes around two weeks to build up immunity. The same holds true for updating COVID vaccines.
