For much of the past two years, COVID-19 has been a ‘hot topic’ of healthcare reporting. Although we are now entering our second flu season in addition to continuing to deal with the Delta Variant of the coronavirus. Speaking Wednesday, Freeman Health System’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Jack Thompson says the hospital is starting to see an increase in the number of flu cases. “We’ve already started seeing some flu cases. If you haven’t gotten your flu shot, please do that as well. We really didn’t have a flu season last year and people weren’t exposed to it. It could give us a really bad flu season and it’s certainly not a time to let down your guard and not get your flu vaccine.”

According to CDC data, in 2019 48.4% of all age groups in the US received a flu vaccine, the highest percentage in the past decade. Still, the agency estimates that 28,000 Americans died that year of flu-related complications.