As flu cases rise in Florida, health officials are telling people it's not too late to get vaccinated.
And ahead of an expected cold front, one metric shows there’s a need for people to heed that call.
The Walgreens Flu Index uses flu testing data, prescription figures, and over-the-counter cold and flu medicine purchases to show how bad the situation is on a 0-to-10 scale
Florida's most recent score is 6.35. That's compared to a 3.6 national score.
It’s also the third worst state score in the country, trailing only Washington and Hawaii.
Benjamin Anderson, a professor with the University of Florida Department of Environmental and Global Health, said the spike has to do with cooler weather, as well as more face-to-face contact.
“We typically will see the majority of influenza cases happening in late December to early January, but it does fluctuate year to year and doesn't always follow the same peak timeline,” Anderson said. “But in general, we'll start to see increases or steady rises in cases beginning in the October-November time range.”
And with temperatures expected to drop into the 40s over the next few days, Anderson said, people should consider getting vaccinated.
“When we have higher percentages of the population covered, it helps create disruption in the transmission of the virus,” he said.
“It is also helpful too if there are some people that are not able to get the vaccine for whatever reason, that we're able to have some extra protection for those individuals when people around them are vaccinated,” Anderson added.
“So it gets into the concept of herd immunity, where we see lower levels of transmission risk typically when higher levels of the population are vaccinated.”
If you've had the flu this year, you may have some immunity to the specific strain. But you still might want to check with your doctor to see if you should get vaccinated, Anderson said.
“It really depends on the individual,” he said. “There are circumstances where even if you have influenza, and this is true for other respiratory viruses, that in some situations, it’s still recommended to get a vaccination a certain amount of time after that infection. It can serve as a booster and provide extra protection.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, avoiding contact with those infected, covering your mouth and nose, avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, and practicing good hygiene are also good ways to reduce the risk of getting the flu.
