Kaylee Davis
Writer

With winter weather un-
derway and the flu season at

its peak, the numbers of peo-
ple sick seems to spike up and

down.

The most recently occur-
ring Flu-A strain has caused

symptoms ranging anywhere
from body aches to blisters.

However, despite the seem-
ingly endless list of problems

that come with this flu strain,
most people recovered from it
after a week.
Junior Brianna Dalrymple
was one of the unfortunate
people who had the flu at the
end of 2023.

“It spreads super easily, so
my whole family caught it,”
Dalrymple said. “I have been

pretty good at getting my vac-
cine yearly, but the one year I

didn’t, it hit me like a brick.”
The elevated number of
positive flu tests have brought
up the question of why this
has been so high.
After COVID-19 emerged

and safety precautions in-
creased, flu numbers reached

record lows.
However, these standards
have grown more relaxed

over time, with people drop-
ping the habits that kept the

positive cases down.
Along with the changes
in habits, flu and COVID-19

vaccinations were not as kept
up with in 2023, the lowering

of prevention protocols hid-
ing the fact that getting sick is

a very real possibility.

Another contributing fac-
tor to the increase is the

waves of cold weather and
family that gathered together
for the holidays.
According to the Centers

for Disease Control and Pre-
vention (CDC), flu numbers

hit their 2023 peak the week

before and week of Christ-
mas, landing at over 20,000

positive Flu-A cases and over
5,000 of Flu-B.
Flu cases and symptoms
will continue fluctuating as
the weather changes.