Health officials want more people to get protection this flu season.

“Let’s have the highest number of vaccines given, the lowest number of people who get sick with the flu and we’ll call this year a success,” said Casie Stoughton, Director of Public Health. 

At the time of this interview, she and a local physician had only seen an average number of cases.

“It’s here, we’ve seen a couple positive flu, not many yet but it shows that the flu virus is starting to circulate in the community,” said David Haacke, Neighbors Emergency Center. 

But despite the steady rate, the City’s Health Director said it’s definitely a change from last year.

“So since the beginning of September, we have seen 39 cases of influenza reported to the public health department. This number is a fairly typical number. It’s higher than last year but on par for the 16, 17, year and so it fits our trend over time,” said Stoughton.

There’s truly never an official start to flu season but there’s a period of time where you can start to notice more cases.

“Fall, Winter, early Spring. When the sun starts getting lower in the sky is when the flu starts becoming more prevalent,” said Haacke.  

We even took to Facebook to see if any of our fans had seen any recent cases or experienced the flu themselves. By looking at the numbers you could say it’s too soon to tell.

Staying healthy this flu season is all about preventative measures. Haacke said before, the nasal flu vaccine hasn’t been recommended because a couple years ago he says it wasn’t quite as effective. 

But this year it’s now an option again. 

If you’re between two or 49 years old you can skip the needle and go the intranasal flu vaccine route. 

But if you’re older, the shot is recommended.