(FOX 2) - It feels like summer still, but the flu season is already here.
Last year the flu season started Oct. 1 and didn't end until May. Which means, now is the time to protect yourself.
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Flu season 2019 has arrived
FOX 2 News
"There is already positive flus out; we're seeing flus in urgent care," Dr. Bernice Sessa with Beaumont Emergency and Urgent Care tells us.
Who should get immunized? The Centers for Disease Control says anyone 6 months and older should get vaccinated, with rare exception. And yes, you can get the vaccine and still get the flu.
"You may get the flu shot and may catch the flu, but a different strain. But at least your body is a little more immune to that and you can have a shorter period of having the flu," Dr. Sessa says.
The flu can be a very serious life threatening upper respiratory virus, or it can just make you feel really bad for a few days. It usually comes on very suddenly. You feel fine then you feel terrible - that's one way of knowing you have the flu and not just a crummy cold.
"Majority of the time it's the fevers and high fever," Dr. Sessa says. "If you have a fever and the body aches and the cough, and it be more respiratory, it sounds like more of the flu."
If you look at flu activity in Australia, which is what many experts do right now as their winter wraps up, they're seeing high levels of flu activity. That can be an indicator that we're in for a tough flu season.
Last year the flu is blamed for the deaths of 80,000 people.