BEAUMONT, Texas — October is the beginning of flu season and high numbers of the virus are already being reported around Southeast Texas.
Right now, Beaumont and Port Arthur is ranked number 4 in the US for highest flu activity, according to the Walgreens Flu Index.
Because of these high numbers, doctors are pushing for Southeast Texans to get the vaccine.
Flu season is nothing new, but health officials say this year, it has come earlier and stronger.
"We are seeing more kids with RSV. We're getting ready as a system to meet the needs of our community. I can't predict for you exactly what the next four, six weeks are going to look like, but we're ready we're getting ready for those needs," said Texas Children's Hospital Pediatric ICU Medical Director, Dr. Melanie Kitagawa
So how can you prepare?
Dr. Msonthi B. Levine with Golden Triangle Internal Medicine and Geriatrics says wearing masks, washing your hands and distancing yourself if you start to feel sick are good practices.
Many people turn to vitamins as preventive measures, but Dr. Levine says while they don't hurt, there's no proof that they help.
"Studies have not shown consistently that if I take a certain amount of a vitamin five days a week, a month prior to the flu infection happening that it will protect me and my family. So, we just don't have that information," he said.
Dr. Levine says if you have the ability to get any sort of influenza vaccine, he highly encourages everyone to get it as soon as possible.
"We learned some things with covid-19 if most, more people are immunized our vaccine against the virus and the virus can spread less, it less less likely to mutate," he said.