QuickTake:

Just 26% of adults in the county have been inoculated this flu season, well below the typical rate of more than 40%, county officials say. Meanwhile, flu cases are on the rise nationwide.

Across the United States, cases of the flu are rapidly rising.

Following the holiday season, government data shows that this winter’s flu outbreak is already worse than last winter’s.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists West Coast states including Oregon as having high activity of influenza-like illness. The data is only a rough estimate of all flu cases, measuring patient visits for respiratory illness that includes fever plus a cough or sore throat, not lab-confirmed cases.

Data from Lane County Health and Human Services shows locally the number of flu cases matches trends in previous years. That doesn’t mean the county is in the clear, however.

This year only 26% of adults in Lane County are vaccinated against influenza. Ordinarily the rate is about 42%.

Jason Davis, spokesperson for Lane County Health and Human Services, likened the current flu season to driving on a routine stretch of road without a seat belt.

“That’s what we’re looking at right now — the flu seems to be tracking with the last five years,” Davis said. “However, the vaccination rate is so much so significantly lower than it typically is, we don’t have that added protection if anything goes wrong.”

Jason Cronin, a PeaceHealth doctor specializing in infectious diseases, is especially worried as peak flu season is still ahead of us — usually late January or early February. Regardless, based on numbers from PeaceHealth-affiliated hospitals, influenza hospitalizations are trending up.

“We’ve had about double the number of patients who are hospitalized because of the flu within the past two weeks,” Cronin said. “So it’s definitely increasing, but it’s not over. It’s expected to continue increasing for several more weeks before it levels off.”

Cronin says people who are young and healthy with flu symptoms don’t need to go to an emergency room. Going to a telehealth appointment or a primary care provider is often enough and can keep patients from overwhelming local hospitals.

He emphasizes there is still time to get vaccinated before the flu peaks.

“There is definitely an opportunity for people getting vaccinated now, to be immunized and as protected as they can be prior to the worst of it,” Cronin said.