AUSTIN, Texas — You may be hearing more coughs around Central Texas because doctors say we’ve seen an uptick in respiratory virus activity recently.
“In many ways, this isn’t, you know, the worst flu season we’ve ever seen by far, but it is probably the worst one that we’ve seen since the COVID pandemic started,” said Kevin Smith, St. David’s children emergency medical physician.
“I think we had a delayed beginning to it largely because of warmer weather,” Smith.
Smith said it’s impacting people of all ages. According to the Texas Health and Human Services website, the percentage of weekly emergency department visits for the flu doubled in Central Texas compared to this time last year.
Statewide, flu ER visits are up more than 55% compared to this time in 2023, and hospitalizations are up more than 33%, according to the Texas Health and Human Services website.
Local doctor and chair of Texas Public Health Coalition Maria Monge said most are being hit with influenza A, especially in recent weeks, causing high fevers and lingering coughs that can last for weeks.
“Anecdotally, the physicians are hearing stories about the flu being pretty bad this year and people being out for five days, seven days, really not being able to work, care for their kids, other things that they need to be doing,” said Monge.
Monge said we’re probably not at the peak yet, and they worry about hospitals getting overwhelmed. But as of right now, the number of cases is manageable.
The CDC expects the rise in cases to continue for several more weeks.