Cases of the flu have spiked drastically over the past few weeks, and are expected to continue to rise. The CDC has reported a concerning rise in flu-related medical visits, which haven’t been this frequent since 2009. This flu season is shaping up to be particularly damaging. According to infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong in an interview with the LA Times, “this is the first time that we’re mainly talking about flu rather than COVID,” since the beginning of the pandemic."
In Tuesday’s press interview regarding student health issues, Dr. Sarah Van Orman discussed the recent flu surge. She said there was a “huge spike in the last semester... We actually saw a spike at the beginning of the semester, it went down a little, and then last week, it was actually up again.”
Van Orman mentioned that while there was an expected spike in cases in December, medical officials could not predict the current peak.
“What’s interesting about this is it’s sort of staying up, which we’re a little bit surprised by. Usually we only get one spike in influenza. And so what’s interesting this year is we’re actually seeing a second peak,” Van Orman said.
As the flu continues to spread rapidly through the LA area, Van Orman urges students to take the proper measures to protect themselves and others who may be at risk.
“There’s a lot of flu out there right now, so really want to take those basic respiratory precautions, primarily washing your hands and not touching your mouth with your hands, taking those precautions,” Van Orman said.
Taking the necessary steps to protect against the flu should always be on our minds during the winter. However, the recent lack of these basic precautions is only one contributor to the current spike. The true complicating issue this season has been the record low vaccination rates nationwide. Since the pandemic, California has seen a 10% drop in vaccinations.
Van Orman echoed a similar sentiment.
“Unfortunately, over the last year or two, uptake of flu vaccine has really dropped on campus and nationally, we have a lot of misinformation, disinformation and vaccine hesitancy in the world right now,” Van Orman said. “That means more people with , ...the unfortunate impact of that is we’re just seeing more people with the flu, more people with complications of the flu.”
USC students can receive free flu vaccines every Wednesday at the Student Health stand in the farmer’s market, although they were missed this week due to the rainy weather. When asked today about this program they noted it runs semester long and students can also receive walk-in vaccines at the Engemann center any day of the week. Through this free flu vaccine program, USC Student Health hopes to combat future flu surges.