Flu Cases Escalate

Marisa Brown

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This year, the flu season has struck earlier than it has in the past 13 years. The flu makes people have a stuffy nose, a cough, and fatigue. As of October 28, 2022, there have been 880,000 cases, 6,900 hospitalizations, and 360 deaths. The number of flu vaccinations is decreasing every year, with last year's numbers being 139 million people and this year´s being 128 million. The flu cases this season alone are already one-eighth of last year's total. There have been ten hospitalizations in Knox County in the past month.

The flu is hard to predict for a person. It begins to make people feel sick, and they usually don’t know they have it until going to a doctor. The lasted data from the CDC shows that the highest cases are in South Carolina and Washington D.C., with many other states, mainly in the East, not far behind them. This year, doctors are urging more people to get the vaccination and have been bracing for the predicted increase and upcoming months. The flu vaccine does not kick in for two weeks, so people susceptible to the flu should go ahead and get it early, largely since the season began prematurely.