This Year's Flu Season Off To An Early & Aggressive Start
MIAMI (CBS4) - Tony Mohamed is diligent about cleaning.
"This is the first thing I do cause I can't be contaminated," said Mohamed, a Miami cab driver. "Then I do the handles cause the next customer is going to touch it again."
His cab is spotless and as germ free as possible. Why? He just got over the flu
"If someone sneezes in your cab you wipe it down afterwards? Asked CBS4's Cynthia Demos.
"I do. Yes I do," he said
He had all the typical symptoms: A high sudden fever and body aches.
He's one of the many getting hit early on this flu season, and hard.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this is the earliest flu outbreak in a decade.
Even the head of Internal Medicine at UHealth says he's seen it with the clinic he runs.
"Certainly a lot of my employees have been out with flu like symptoms for the past few weeks," said Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo.
Dr. Carrasquillo said be smart!
"Be aware of what you're touching and how you're touching it," said Dr. Carrasquillo.
And even if you have come down with the flu, it's not too late to get a flu shot.
The CDC reports cases in Florida are about half that of what's going on in the Northeast. Twenty-eight percent of sample testing in the Florida, Georgia, Alabama area came back positive and in the New England area, that number was up to 45 percent.
Experts recommend washing hands effectively will reduce your risk of contracting the flu. That means using warm water with soap, for at least 20-30 seconds.
That's the number one reason the virus spreads, and it can stay on a surface for up to 8 hours.
