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It’s mid-October, and cold and flu season is creeping up on San Diego residents.
The past two years have been easy for colds and flu, thanks in part to social distancing and mask-wearing to protect against Covid-19. But now many precautions have gone by the wayside.
Dr. Cameron Kaiser of the San Diego County Health Department said it’s creating some challenges for local schools.
At Patrick Henry High School we are seeing flu-like illnesses – mostly fever, cough, respiratory symptoms. And we’re investigating some similar reports at Del Norte High School. Although this is preliminary, many are testing positive for influenza A,” he said.
Vanessa Alvarado is the mother of two students at Patrick Henry High School, where hundreds of high school students became ill this week.
“We found my little boy in bed since Sunday morning. And leaving the house was immediately after the dance. She had a fever of 103 — she slept all day Sunday,” Alvarado told KPBS. “My oldest son was sick for a couple of days, so he was a bit hurt.”
The issue is not limited to Patrick Henry High School. The Poway Unified School District also has a large number of students in the climate.
Christine Pike is the district’s chief communications officer.
“One of our schools, Del Norte, seems to be particularly affected. We don’t know with 100% certainty that it’s all the flu, but we do know that there are many students – about 400 yesterday and the day before yesterday – who have had flu-like symptoms.
Pike said this is more than three times the normal school absentee rate for more than 2,500 students.
Kaiser said a combination of bad flu season and other illnesses could be the reason so many students are sick.
“Influenza A is a more serious illness than the two major flu strains we deal with each year. And we’re already seeing flu and other respiratory viruses in the county early,” he said. .”
So far, there have been more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the flu in the county since July. For the same period in 2021, there were only 200.
Kaiser urges San Diegans to get flu shots as soon as possible to prevent this year’s early and fast flu.
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