BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana flu season has been quiet so far, but that could change as cases of the illness increase across the country.
Despite the lull in the season, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is encouraging everyone to get a flu shot.
Dr. Frank Welch, immunization medical director at DHH, tells The Advocate it’s just a matter of time before it gets here.
Welch says the flu usually gets going in the large cities and spreads from there, which is what is being seen now.
He says Louisiana hospitals and doctor’s offices are only seeing about two people with flu-like symptoms out of every 100 patients. In a busy year, that number would be about seven or eight.