The flu is on the rise in Pitkin County; a sample of doctors and nurses reported 5.4 percent of their patients have had flu-like symptoms, which is a higher percentage than this time last year.
A spokesperson for Eagle County said the same. So far this flu season, Garfield County has had 22 hospitalizations because of the flu. The majority of those occurred in the past three weeks.
This is a sharp increase; however, it’s unclear whether this year will be worse than last year in Garfield County, when there were 36 hospitalizations total.
The Centers for Disease Control think the flu vaccine is 30 percent effective, which is similar to last year, but this won’t be known until mid-February.
