HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) — Hawaii healthcare workers are seeing a rise in flu cases — especially in young people — and with the busy holiday travel season underway, they’re urging folks to get vaccinated.
“Just more people being indoors and around each other. We do see more viral respiratory infections going around,” DOH Disease Investigation Branch Chief Caroline Pratt said last month.
DOH data from the week from Nov. 5-11 shows 4% of outpatient visits were due to the flu — that’s up from the 3.3% average for the season and higher than the national rate of 3.5%.
Adding to concerns — fears of a “tripledemic” – where cases of COVID-19, flu, and RSV surge at the same time.
“We do worry about those three things combining that could overwhelm the healthcare system right now. It’s not overwhelmed. And so we need to do everything we can to prevent that by getting vaccinated staying home when you’re sick,” Pratt had said.
Healthcare providers say the best protection is to get vaccinated for all three — most insurers cover the cost.
Flu shots are available for anyone aged 6 months and older and take about two to four weeks to become fully effective.
“Demand has been really unprecedented across the entire country for flu vaccinations,” said Nicole Henry, PharmD, District Leader of CVS Health.
More people are vaccinated for the flu than for COVID – but some myths persist.
“The flu vaccine is actually completely inactivated. So it does not cause the flu in anyone, what we do see sometimes is just a little bit of fatigue and a sore arm,” Henry said.
“And even if you’ve had the flu, you should still get the flu vaccine because there’s all sorts of different variants that are circulating, and the flu vaccine itself is quadrivalent. It covers for different types of flu.”
For those who opt not to get vaccinated, health officials say hand washing, isolating when sick and mask wearing are also effective to minimize spread to the most vulnerable in our communities.
CVS Longs offers vaccines for flu, COVID and RSV. Click here to book an appointment.
An earlier version of this story was published on Nov. 17, 2023.
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