JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Flu activity nationwide may have decreased slightly this week according to the latest report from the CDC, but it remains at elevated levels.
Flu and more flu, that's what doctors and nurses continue to see over and over again in their offices.
This week, doctors in St. Johns County at the St. Augustine CareSpot have been taking extra measures to help stop the spread of flu. They're passing out face masks, like this one, to guard against influenza. If you have the flu and you’re coughing, sneezing, and still going to work, you get a mask.
Flu A and B has hit them hard and the clinic actually had to order more flu kits because they went through their entire supply this week. That shortage is something they didn't experience last year. Nurses say a lot of their patients who have tested positive already had their flu shots.
That trend continues in Duval County. Doctors with the CareSpot on the Southside say flu has been the main problem and a handful of their patients with their flu vaccines are still getting the virus.
In Clay County at the Care Spot in Middleburg, their office is treating up to 50-60 people a day with influenza. Wait times for walk-in patients have been significantly longer with people sitting in the waiting room for 2 to 3 hours. Strep throat and upper respiratory infections were also been reported.
In Nassau County at the CareSpot in Yulee, a third of the patients who have been walking into their clinics have tested positive for the flu. Their wait times have been 45 minutes to an hour long which is longer than usual. Pollen and allergies have led to a number of upper respiratory infections as well.