The worst of the flu season could be behind North Texas now, but health experts are not ready to breathe a sigh of relief quite yet.
Doctors at Children’s Health said they have seen a decrease in flu activity so far this month compared to the hard-hit month of December.
Through the first week of January, Children’s Health has administered 301 rapid flu tests, and 12 percent of those came back positive. Children’s Health says that’s about half as many cases as it had last month.
“This is because Dallas was one of the hardest hit in December across the country, and that means we'll probably see fewer cases in the next few weeks,” said Dr. Ray Tsai, with Children’s Health.
New figures from Dallas County show the first week of January there were about 600 fewer tests administered compared to the last week of December.
“There’s many reasons why Dallas was hit hard this December from flu-A. It could be because many people didn’t get vaccinations, because of other events this fall,” Tsai said.
Still, doctors are forecasting flu type-B to pop up in the coming weeks.
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“Flu-B usually lags a few weeks to months later, so it’s not too late to get your flu vaccine,” added Tsai.
Even if you have had the flu type-A strain, the vaccine also covers the type-B strain of the flu, so it’s still worthy to get the shot, he said.
