AUSTIN (KXAN) — With the cooler weather comes an increase in the number of colds and respiratory illnesses spreading around Central Texas. But how does this flu season compare to the onset of last year’s?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies December through February as peak flu season, with February often accounting for the highest volume of flu activity. While the overall impact and severity of strains vary each flu season, last year’s peak in Texas happened in early December, according to data compiled by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The highest positivity rate reported in Texas during the 2022-23 season happened in early December, where reports indicated a 24.5% positivity rate. That rate is determined by the percentage of flu tests that came back positive compared to the overall number of tests conducted.
The 2023-24 flu season began Oct. 1. As of a Dec. 8 DSHS report, there are more than 4,700 positive flu cases collected since then, with a seasonal positivity rate of 6.59% so far.
At Tarrytown Pharmacy in Austin, President and Chief Pharmacy Officer Rannon Ching said he is seeing an increase in people coming in with a multitude of colds, allergies and respiratory conditions. On the testing front, Ching added Tarrytown has experienced an uptick in testing requests for respiratory syncytial virus, flu, COVID-19 and strep.
“We’re just seeing, in general, a lot of people being more sick — whether that be filling antibiotics or prescriptions, or just getting over-the-counter medications for their symptoms,” Ching said.
In the few months since updated flu shots were made available in September, Ching said there’s been steady interest in customers coming in to get up-to-date on their vaccinations. Appointments aren’t quite as intensive as they were a few months ago, he said, but added there’s still been a solid wave of people coming in ahead of end-of-year holiday gatherings.
While it remains to be seen how this year’s flu season activity pans out, activity overall has increased since the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many more people were social distancing or masking in public. As more people travel and go around sans masks, that’ll naturally lead to more respiratory illnesses spreading, similar to pre-pandemic volumes, he said.
“There’s a lot more people that are interacting with each other, which naturally leads — even before the pandemic — to more flu and respiratory illness,” he said. “But we’ve also seen, at least here in the Austin area, people that are being more cautious. So people, even in our store, are still wearing masks. I’m wearing masks to kind of protect our kiddo and stuff too. So I think we’re seeing a healthy mix of behaviors.”
Ahead of holiday travel — where as many as nine million Texans are expected to hit the roads and skies this December — Ching encouraged continually best practices to keep travelers safe. Simple things like frequent handwashing, testing and masking while traveling can help mitigate any spread, he said.
“Think about what we can do to make sure that we’re not passing on any sort of sickness or illness to other folks,” he said. “And so as long as people have that kind of in their mind, they should be in good shape.”
More information on flu symptoms, vaccination locations and preventative measures is available online.
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