{"id":470581,"date":"2026-10-19T14:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470581\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:52:08","slug":"flu-activity-is-rising-earlier-than-usual-in-el-paso-county-health-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470581\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu activity is rising earlier than usual in El Paso County, health officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) &#8211; Respiratory illness season is underway in El Paso County, and local health officials say flu activity is already increasing earlier than typically expected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">El Paso County Public Health says influenza, pertussis, also known as whooping cough, and COVID-19 are currently circulating in the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Haley Zachary, communicable disease division manager with El Paso County Public Health, said respiratory illness season generally runs from October through May. While increases in illness are expected during that period, she said flu numbers are higher than officials typically see this early in the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe are seeing an earlier rise in higher numbers of flu,\u201d Zachary said. \u201cTypically we see higher numbers about December or January, and we\u2019re starting to see those a lot earlier about now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">State health leaders are urging everyone six months and older to get a flu shot as soon as possible. That guidance comes after state leaders reported the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kktv.com\/2026\/10\/16\/colorado-confirms-pediatric-flu-death-cases-rise-early-this-season\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.kktv.com\/2026\/10\/16\/colorado-confirms-pediatric-flu-death-cases-rise-early-this-season\/\">first child flu death<\/a> in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">El Paso County Public Health recommends several steps to help limit the spread of respiratory illnesses, including washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, covering coughs, properly disposing of used tissues and staying home when you\u2019re sick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">People experiencing a fever, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea should stay home. Zachary said people should also consider contacting a healthcare provider if they cannot get a fever under control or are having trouble drinking enough fluids to stay hydrated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">While many people with healthy immune systems will recover from respiratory illnesses without serious complications, Zachary said the consequences can be more severe for vulnerable members of the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cFor some people, like those under the age of 5, those who are old or severely immunocompromised, they may have a very severe infection which requires hospitalization, and sometimes people do die,\u201d Zachary said. \u201cWhile it\u2019s important to protect yourself and keep yourself healthy, in doing so, you\u2019re also protecting your community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Public health officials say vaccines for influenza, COVID-19 and RSV are available throughout the community. Residents can consult their healthcare provider about vaccination options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Vaccines are available through El Paso County Public Health as well as doctors\u2019 offices and pharmacies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">El Paso County Public Health also launched a communicable disease dashboard this year. The dashboard provides weekly local updates on respiratory illness hospitalizations and other diseases circulating in the community.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 KKTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) &#8211; Respiratory illness season is underway in El Paso County, and local health officials&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-470581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}