Flu shots are as important as they have ever been due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials at Dallas County Public Health usually recommend waiting to get a flu shot until it’s closer to the peak season in late January and early February. Still, with the threat of COVID-19, they encourage getting one earlier in the season. Dallas County Public Health Public Information Officer Ann Cochran tells Raccoon Valley Radio says the hospitals are already strained with COVID-19, the fewer people who have to go to the hospital with the flu, the better.

“People who get the flu sometimes get so sick that they have to be hospitalized. Our hospital systems are already strained. So if we can prevent a hospitalization from the flu by simply getting the shot, that will help the whole system. So that’s great.”

Cochran adds a lot of the sanitation practice being emphasized for COVID-19, like regular handwashing, avoiding touching your eyes and mouth, and covering your mouth when coughing and sneezing, can go a long way to halting the spread of the flu.