CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Local pediatricians are seeing an increase in the number of flu cases recently.
“This week, I would say of the sick visits we’ve had in the clinic, about 30-40 percent of them have tested positive for the flu,” said Dr. Sabeen Rani, of Rani Pediatrics.
Dr. Rani said her clinic doesn’t usually see the numbers they are currently seeing they don’t usually hit until later in the year.
“Usually we will see the flu more likely in the winter months,” Rani said. “Usually we’ll see it into December, January, February. But, since the pandemic, especially this year, we’re seeing diseases out of season.”
Dr. Rani hopes the number of cases will plateau, but does not expect cases to drop into the winter months.
“If you’re looking at how things are going across the country, I don’t think it’s going to [plateau],” she said. “I think a lot of our younger kids are seeing these illness for the first time, so they don’t have a built immunity to it. A lot of our older kids, because they were so protect with social distancing, they didn’t have these infections over the past two years, so their immunity is low as well.”
Dr. Rani said the best way to protect your family: get vaccinate.
“What we’re seeing is, the kids that did get the flu vaccines, their tests are not coming back positive,” she said.
