After more than two years of COVID-19, influenza is poised to make an early and impressive return.

And that has health providers in Colorado concerned. 

“This year has the potential to be a bad flu year,” said Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director for infection prevention and control at UC Health. “A lot of the measures used during the COVID-19 pandemic such as masking and limiting gatherings that helped limit the spread of flu are no longer in place.”

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During COVID-19, flu numbers were at historic lows as most people socially distanced. Given the warnings, some providers say these best practices should be something people re-familiarize themselves with. 

“If you feel sick, stay home,” said Michael Roshon, vice president of physician residencies and research operations at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs. “What we have is two years with very low numbers of flu and it looks like there are a lot more people that are susceptible to the strain that is out this year.” 

Flu vaccine

Visit vaccines.gov/find-vaccines/ to find where you can get a free flu vaccine. Everyone 6 months and older is encouraged to get a flu vaccine. 

A strain of the flu changes about every year. There are two major variants: influenza A and influenza B, each with their own subvariants or strains. Influenza B is far more common to humans. Researchers in Australia, which is seeing a spike in flu cases, are seeing mostly influenza A.  

Roshon says experts watch data from countries like Australia, where flu seasons typically precede the United States by six months. Rates in Australia are “sky-high,” more than three times higher than a “normal” flu season. 

One of the best ways to fight the flu is to get a flu vaccine. Barron of UC Health likened being vaccinated against the flu to training for a race. 

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“By the time you do the race, you’re optimized and you’ve done everything you can to make sure you’re going to be successful,” she said.

Your immune system is constantly dealing with potential threats introduced to your body, but it doesn’t have the energy to fight everything. Your immune system has essentially had two years “off” from the flu, and the muscles it needs to engage to fight the flu have not been touched.

“We’ve been doing flu vaccines for a long, long time,” Roshon said. “The flu vaccine is old technology, we know it’s safe, and we know exactly how to make this vaccine.” 

A flu vaccine gives your body a “blueprint,” Barron said.

“A flu vaccine tells your body, ‘This is what you need to be on the lookout for to attack,'” she said. “After two weeks, (your immune system) is primed and ready.” 

State officials offered similar advice: Get vaccinated, if you feel sick stay home, and wear a mask if you fear you’ve been exposed or may be exposed to the flu vaccine. 

While the state deals with a flu season every year, the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented. Colorado’s health department was able to learn from it and hopes practices put in place then can benefit Colorado during flu season. 

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“Across the state we established a combined hospital transfer center, where we had the ability in public health to work with our partners to monitor hospital capacity and then move patients across the state if we needed to,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist.

While the flu season could be more severe than in previous years, Herlihy says initial modeling done by the state shows influenza infections, even at a peak, will be lower than the COVID-19 surges. 

“The volume of hospitalizations that we see with influenza, year to year, is much less than what we experienced in the last 2½ years,” she said.