Still Uncertainty About Wisconsin's Flu Season

Monday, December 6th, 2021 -- 11:00 AM

(Bob Hague, WRN) There’s still some uncertainty about what this flu season may bring in Wisconsin.

But Dr. Ryan Westergaard with the state Department of Health Services says the high number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 is concerning. “In a typical flu season, if we have many flu cases that’s going to translate to many people in the hospitals, and we really can’t afford that. So the two things that we can do is everybody get their influenza vaccine, then use the prevention strategies that we know prevent COVID and other respiratory viruses.”

Dr. Westergaard with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services says there’s still some uncertainty about what this flu season may bring. “We don’t know what to expect with this influenza season. There are reasons both for concern and also potentially for optimism.”

Dr. Westergaard says  we already have some effective strategies. “We know from last year that when we use prevention strategies like masking and social distancing that we can cut down the rate of respiratory viruses, and we essentially saw no influenza circulating last year.”

Westergaard says the high number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 is concerning, so those prevention strategies along with getting vaccinated against flu are important.

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