ATLANTA — CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is urging people to get vaccinated as influenza deaths and illnesses climb across the country.
This comes as health providers battle COVID and RSV cases amidst what has been dubbed the "triple-demic."
“It’s obviously very concerning so cases of influenza are still not coming down which means we’ll still on the rise," says Walensky.
Dr. Walensky made a stop at the Atlanta Food Bank Sunday to help pack boxes ahead of the holidays. The visit comes as 47 states, including Georgia, are now experiencing high or very high respiratory virus activity.
While the director says that RSV cases appears to be slowing, COVID cases are still rising and flu cases are breaking records.
"We are seeing rates of influenza higher than what we’ve seen in the last decade at this time of year," Walensky said.
The CDC estimates that so far this flu season, there have been at least 13 million cases and 7,300 deaths. Last flu season saw 9 million cases and 5,000 deaths in its entirety. These are numbers that the CDC director admits are unnerving, but said it's too early to tell whether this flu season will outpace the rest.
“In other parts of the world that gets the flu before us – they did have an earlier season, but it was not a more severe season," Walensky added. "Right now, time will tell – we don’t know the answer to that action."
The spike in flu cases comes as many parts of the country experience shortages of Tamiflu and other flu-related medications. Dr. Walensky said the CDC and the FDA are working closely with manufacturers to try to remedy the medication shortages, but explained the best thing people can do is to get vaccinated.