The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s color-coded map indicates how much influenza has been detected by the end of November, a month that is normally outside of serious concerns about the disease.
Pennsylvania is purple — the darkest shade for the highest threat. Influenza here is widespread — just as it is in New York and California, Texas and Alabama. Sixteen states have widespread infection and 14 more have regional outbreaks. The CDC says activity has been up for a month and continues to climb.
State Department of Health numbers show the Greater Pittsburgh area to have far and away the largest concentration, with Allegheny County alone posting 28% of Pennsylvania’s documented cases. Add in Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland and you have more than half of the state’s 4,424 identified patients.
It is the kind of thing that should send people sprinting for a flu shot for protection. The numbers say that doesn’t happen.
In the 2017-18 season, the CDC noted the severity as high, and the 79,400 people who died bear that out. That year, the number of people who contracted the disease was comparable to the number that had it during the deadly pandemic of 1918.
And yet just over a third of adults got vaccinated. Shots actually fell 6.2% from the previous year.
Is it because people feel invulnerable? Or are we just big kids that don’t want to take our medicine?
The American Academy of Family Physicians says the vast majority of U.S. parents follow the recommended schedule, with well over 90% of kindergartners covered.
So why do we take better care of our kids than ourselves? Shots aren’t fun, it’s true, but neither is missing work because you are sick. Neither is a cough that becomes pneumonia. Neither is the physical and emotional and financial fallout from a simple illness that becomes catastrophic.
Flu season has just begun but Carnegie Mellon University researchers warned months ago it would be severe. Winter isn’t even here yet. If you are worried about your kids’ health, take steps to protect them by protecting yourself.
