COVID-19 has been at the forefront of healthcare reporting for nearly two years now, although doctors at Freeman Health System in Joplin are reporting a rise in the number of flu cases . Freeman Infection Prevention Manager Jessica Liberty says that along with COVID and flu season, doctors have also recently seen a significant increase in the number of patients with upper respiratory illnesses. “Typically we have a respiratory illness season which we would see in late fall, early winter and into winter. Typically it kind of overlaps the flu season. We have seen the respiratory illness season kind of be shifted more towards the milder temperature months. You’re looking at July, August, September and even October. We have seen an increase in RSV and in croup and like I said, a little bit of an increase in the flu as well.”

Liberty says that you can get your flu and COVID vaccine shots on the same day, but discourages getting both in the same arm.