Orange County flu cases surge to levels "worse than COVID," doctor says
As Southern California recovers from the wildfires, it's seeing the worst flu season in years with cases surging across the region and nation.
Orange County physician Dan Inglish said he and the staff at Providence Mission Hospital are coming off a bad couple of weeks where sick patients flooded his emergency room.
"We've been overwhelmed by flu patients," Inglish said. "It's been worse than COVID. It's probably been the worst winter for flu patients in many, many years."
Numbers from OC Health show flu cases spiking in November and December, dropping for most of January before another surge as the month ended. However, it's recently leveled off.
Statewide, 27.8% of flu tests have returned positive for the week ending on Feb. 1. COVID cases have a 2.4% positivity rate while RSV has 5%.
"I have a school-aged son," Mission Viejo resident Andrew Geer said. "He's sick every three weeks. About 10 days ago, half of his class was out on Friday with flu, cold, something."
Meghan Torres is a physician assistant who has seen her fair share of flu cases in the hospital and her home.
"With two little kids at home, every mom worries naturally but thankfully it's come and gone," she said.
Dr. Inglish wonders if the severity of this year's flu season means it will stretch beyond April although at his hospital he's seeing a change.
"It seems that the volume of flu patients is starting to downtrend and it seems to be letting up a little bit but we are still getting quite a number of patients," he said. "They are still symptomatic and coming in for symptomatic relief."
