Flu Cases by State Dwindled Last Year but CDC Still Recommends Annual Vaccination

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The number of reported Flu cases in different parts of the U.S. have been reduced so far as compared to last year. For instance, the local hospital emergency room and urgent care in Sampson Regional Medical Center in North Carolina have seen a decreased number in cases of the flu for the previous month, as compared to the same period in 2014, according to the Sampson Independent.

"We have seen a drastic decrease in positive flu tests from last year," said Jill Cairney, marketing specialist at the hospital. "Last year we saw around 412 cases for the weeks in December and this year, thus far, we have seen six."

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the flu activity in South Carolina is currently high, while it is still moderate in Arizona, Mississippi and Texas. In the rest of the country, the flu rates are still low, reported NewsMax.

But, the North Carolina state Department of Health and Human Services through one of its epidemiologist Zack Moore warned that, although, there is a slow start this season, it does not mean that it won't pick up, especially during its usual peak period in January and February.

The CDC said that the timing of the flu is often unpredictable and could vary from different regions in the U.S. They noted that the flu season usually starts in early October and lasts up to the month of May.

For the current season, it has officially started on Oct. 4, 2015 and CDC predicts that it could last until May 28, 2016. The peak period are typically during the months of December to February.

"Nationally, it's been a slow start to this season," Sara Lopez, a registered nurse at Summit County Public Health, recently explained in a county forum. "Typically, we'll see the peak in February, but we just don't know," wrote the Summit Daily.

Nonetheless, the health officials from CDC is still encouraging people aged 6 months and older to undergo annual flu vaccination. This is important in order to maintain what they referred to as herd immunity against flu, which means enough people are vaccinated so that if one person gets sick, the disease can't spread, according to Stltoday.com.

Herd immunity can be achieved if there would be about 80 percent of the members in the population who will have immunity. Currently, the flu vaccination rates are 67 percent for adults 65 and older, 47 percent for people 50 to 64, 34 percent for those 18 to 49, and 59 percent for kids 17 and under, according to the CDC.