More In This Article U.S. health officials announced early in
December that this year’s influenza season had started early and
they predicted it would hit hard. Unfortunately, as reports from
around the country make clear, they were right. The flu began
spreading on the East Coast by early November and soon worked
its way west across the country. On January 9, New York City
Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley asked residents with flu
symptoms to call their primary doctor first before traveling to
the city’s already crowded emergency rooms. Then Boston declared
a public health emergency because physicians there were
reporting a ten-fold increase in the number of flu cases,
compared to last year’s much milder flu season. Public health
officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) emphasized that the outbreak has not yet peaked and that
anyone who was not yet vaccinated could still benefit from
getting this season’s flu shot. Although it takes two weeks for
a person to get the full benefits,