TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) – It is the time of year for rising flu, cold and COVID cases, and Alabama healthcare professionals say that although some numbers are relatively low, others are seeing spikes.

According to officials with the Alabama Department of Health, although cases of COVID are staying steady, they are seeing high numbers of flu cases. The Alabama Department of Public Health’s dashboard also shows an increase in RSV cases during the months of October and November.

“COVID-19 is not showing signs of coming up quickly, although it has come up. If you go to our viral dashboard, you can see COVID-19 has maintained relatively steady over the last few weeks,” said Alabama Department of Public Health Medical Officer, Dr. Stubblefield. “And also influenza hospitalizations across the state, so we’re definitely seeing flu activity that’s much higher in the southeast and Alabama, so we encourage people to get inoculated.”

Dr. Stubblefield noted that he is not surprised by the lack of spikes in COVID cases due to how the virus changes over time.

“Not necessarily. What we’ve seen over the last few years with COVID is we have seen wintertime peaks of activities. We fully expect to be a seasonal activity for COVID-19 as there has been and we expect that to come anytime but we don’t know when because we continue to see the virus change. The 2024 vaccine should continue to provide coverage as these are omicron-based variance,” explained Dr. Stubblefield.

In terms of precautions, Dr. Stubblefield recommends that people get their COVID vaccines, adding that the vaccines are made available for anyone 6 months old and older.

“It comes with recommendations and we want people to consider the vaccine if you have risk factors for serious disease, risk factor for hospitalizations such as a weakened immune system, older age, the risk increases with age and also underlying medical conditions,” said Dr. Stubblefield.

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