BEAUMONT, Texas — The U.S has been dealing with the COVID-19 global pandemic since March of 2020, and health officials are concerned it has pushed other health concerns to the back of people’s minds.
Flu season begins October 1, and health officials want to make sure Southeast Texans are taking necessary precautions to stay safe ahead of it. However, it is understood why the flu has been out of the community’s mind, as last year’s flu season saw a record low in cases.
Between late September of 2020 and August of 2021, the Center for Disease Control reported a little more than 2,000 confirmed cases of influenza in the U.S. For reference, in 2019 the CDC reported 38 million cases.
Health officials said the dramatic drop in cases is due to people taking protective measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, like mask-wearing.
“Flu is a respiratory virus,” Aily Powell, director of pharmacy at Baptists Hospitals of Southeast Texas, said. “Just like COVID and any other respiratory viruses, when you have a physical barrier like a mask on, it helps prevent droplets from escaping.”
While the decrease in cases is a genuinely good thing, health officials are still concerned about the upcoming flu season and said cases are already being seen in Southeast Texas.
“A few months ago, we saw a huge uptick in RSV,” Powell said. “So, you test for all of that and that will help you decide what to do, but a lot of the signs and symptoms are overlapping because they're all respiratory viruses.”
With COVID-19 vaccines and relaxed restrictions leading to more people returning back to in-person work and learning, scientists have had to make the 2021 flu vaccine stronger.
“There's two types of, Flu A and Flu B,” Powell said. “So there's usually two variants of the A strain and two variants of the B strain, so they're both in there (the vaccine),” Powell said,
The record-low cases of the 2020-2021 flu season makes it difficult to predict what the 2021 season will be like, Powell said. All health officials can do is encourage the Southeast Texas community to take necessary precautions.
“Just encouraging the people and the population to get vaccinated for flu season, it’s not going away,” Powell said. “Flu is still here. It happens every year.”
Vaccinated Southeast Texans are asked to keep the fact that just because they have the COVID-19 vaccine, does not mean they are protected from the flu in mind.
The flu shot will be available to the public soon, but in the meantime, Powell encourages the community to keep taking pandemic precautions, like hand washing and mask-wearing.