MILWAUKEE — For the first time in five months, Milwaukee County is “low” for COVID transmission levels.
That news is coming right on the heels of flu season which may be returning to pre-covid levels as a result.
The past two flu seasons have been mild compared to normal. According to health officials, it’s likely that will not be the case this year.
A big reason for that is due to people shifting away from some of the rigid COVID safety measures that have been in place for the past two years.
Dr. Molly Cousin, a pediatrician at Sixteenth Street Health Clinics, says not wearing masks when out in public and moving away from other changes that were implemented the past two seasons will make a difference.
“We do worry that that is going to increase the transmission of influenza in the community,” said Dr. Cousin. “We are anticipating that once (the) flu does start to circulate in the community that it could be causing serious infections and complications.”
Infectious disease expert with Advocate Aurora, Dr. Minhaj Husain, agrees. He also says it’s not time to close the book on COVID and those precautions just yet.
“When it comes to COVID, the woods are starting to thin out a little bit but we’re not out of the woods just yet,” said Dr. Husain. “We are a lot better now. But we’re better because of the measures we’ve taken, so we need to keep those measures going.”
Especially now that class is back in session and more kids are back in person, this year’s flu season could be tougher and spread more widely than last year.
Another reason doctors think this year might be worse is by looking at how badly the flu has impacted the parts of the world that have already had their flu season.
Dr. Cousin says the flu was aggressive in the Southern Hemisphere which indicates our season may be as well.
Doctors also recommend getting your flu shot before the end of October to be immunized for the entire season.
