BOZEMAN — Flu season is upon us in Gallatin County, but are we seeing more or fewer cases than in previous years? The Gallatin City-County Health Department says influenza cases have doubled in the last two weeks.
During the week of Dec.11, Gallatin County was seeing 22 Type-A flu cases and 32 Type-B. The next week, there were 41 Type-A and 35 Type-B cases. Just last week, there were 122 Type-A cases and 47 Type-B cases.
Although these numbers seem to be rapidly increasing, Health Officer Lori Christenson says these numbers are actually slightly lower than last year.
“We're seeing slightly less flu than we did last year. I don't have a really good explanation as to why. Could just be the type of, you know, the type of virus that's circulating. But when we look at last year's numbers, in this year's numbers, we're slightly below the comparable,” says Christenson.
The Health Department is encouraging people to get their flu vaccines since the flu season could continue all the way to March.
