ORLANDO, Fla. — Flu activity is at a “very high level” across the state of Florida, and cases are only expected to rise following the holidays.

However, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Florida is not alone. The Sunshine State joins more than 30 states across the U.S. in seeing an increase in flu cases.

What You Need To Know

An Orlando Health infectious disease provider, Dr. Daniel Egan, said last month, Orlando Regional Medical Center saw about 4,500 patients with the flu across all of its systems

Egan said on a positive note, not many of the cases he’s seen have required ICU-level care

Officials say this is a normal pattern for flu season, where cases spike right after the holidays and then peak in early January

Around this time of year, when millions of people are transitioning back into their regular schedules after the holidays, Dr. Daniel Egan says it’s after they’ve visited heavily populated areas like airports, airplanes, and other places where the virus can be spread.

That is why he believes the seemingly sudden spike in cases is at its peak right now.

Egan said during the earlier months of flu season, like in September and October, he didn’t really see a significant number of cases of the flu where people needed to seek medical care. But he said that toward the end of November and December is when cases began to increase.

Compared to last year this time, Egan said Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) is seeing about a 20% increase in flu cases.

“It’s not the majority of the infections that we’re dealing with, but certainly more than what you’d see normally, on your average day in a hospital,” he said. “I know that last month at Orlando Health, we had around 4,500 cases of the flu, but that’s including all the different hospital systems.”

Egan said that he has not personally seen many severe cases where patients have needed ICU-level care, but he still suggests seeking emergency care for anyone having difficulty breathing or a high fever.

Otherwise, officials suggest that to help prevent overwhelming emergency rooms, visiting your primary care physician or smaller urgent care facilities first would be helpful for things like testing to see if you have the flu and milder symptoms like a runny nose, cough, or sore throat.