Peoria, Woodford, and Tazewell County have more than 10 times the number of COVID-19 cases, 84, that was charted a month ago which was only 8. But it's the future, the fall season, that makes health officials nervous. Monica Hendrickson with the Peoria City/County Health Department said flu season covers two calendar years, making the comparison of flu and COVID-19 case numbers difficult. For the Peoria-Tazewell region their yearly total from October of 2019 to the end of March in 2020 was around 5,377 positive influenza cases. To put it into perspective the first recorded case of COVID-19 in Central Illinois wasn't until March 14th. But what concerns medical professionals all the way up to the head of the CDC is what happens this coming fall. "We're going to have two viruses circulate at the same time. This spring that we just went through February, we had a benefit of having the flu season ended so we could use all our flu surveillance systems to say, whoops, this is coronavirus. We need to focus." said Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC Director Dr. Redfield told the Washington Post that because both the flu and COVID-19 attack the respiratory system, simultaneous outbreaks could put an unimaginable strain on our healthcare system. That's why Peoria's health administrator said here in Central Illinois your best tool will be the flu shot. "You want to decrease the pressure on our healthcare system to deal with influenza Illnesses but likewise if you've had the influenza vaccine and you are coming down with symptoms it's going to help your healthcare provider understand what could also be involved." said Monica Hendrickson "I can tell you right now the number one thing you are going to hear me say come the fall is, if you are able to get vaccinated for flu." Hendrickson said everyone who can should get the flu vaccine you can be 6 months and older to get it. A reminder that as of right now there is still no vaccine for COVID-19. Source
