The city of San Diego is ramping up its battle against the flu virus this season after hundreds of residents died in what was considered the most severe flu seasons in recent memory.
The city’s efforts will be announced Wednesday as officials prepare for the 2018-2019 flu season.
Last fall and winter, the U.S. went through one of the most severe flu seasons in recent memory, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. government estimates that 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications last winter — the disease's highest death toll in at least four decades.
In San Diego County, the 342 residents who died of flu-related causes during the 2017 to 2018 flu season represent a nearly 300 percent increase over the city's 87 deaths during the 2016 to 2017 flu season.
Along with promoting vaccination against the flu virus, the city of San Diego will work with Waxie Sanitary Supply and hygiene product manufacturer Gojo Industries to install hand sanitizer stations at all San Diego libraries and recreation centers.
County health officials advise that getting a flu vaccine is the best prevention. They said in September that this season’s flu vaccine offers protection against several strains of the flu, including influenza A H3N2, pandemic H1N1-like and influenza B strains.
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People with pre-existing medical conditions are more likely to experience serious complications from influenza, but healthy persons could unexpectedly have severe illness that leads to disability and death, according to Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer.
The vaccine is especially recommended for people with chronic medical conditions like asthma, diabetes and lung disease, pregnant women, those 65 years and older and those who live with or care for others who are at higher risk.
There are a number of clinic locations throughout San Diego County offering the influenza vaccine. Click here for the most updated list from the county. For more information, call (866) 358-2966.
The length of the upcoming flu season could depend on where you live.
Scientists from Oregon State University tracked flu cases in more than 600 areas around the U.S. and found that in larger, crowded cities, flu season lasted longer, regardless of climate.
Smaller cities tend to have a shorter, but more intense, flu season.
CDC officials do not have exact counts of how many people die from flu each year. Flu is so common that not all flu cases are reported, and flu is not always listed on death certificates. So the CDC uses statistical models, which are periodically revised, to make estimates.
Last winter was not the worst flu season on record, however. The 1918 flu pandemic, which lasted nearly two years, killed more than 500,000 Americans, historians estimate.
