 Coming up on this edition of OES News in Depth the flu is widespread. We'll be talking to the California Department of Public Health but you and your family can do to remain safe. Thanks for joining me today. Our guest is Dr. James Watt with the California Department of Public Health and he's in Richmond, California. Thank you for joining us Dr. Watt. My pleasure. So the CDPH has issued a widespread flu activity report saying that there's quite a bit of flu throughout the state. So why is this year different from previous years? That's a great question. Every year about this time we see a significant increase in flu activity so that part is not unusual. It is important for people to know that the flu is out there and circulating in the community. What is unusual this year and what we wanted people to be particularly aware of is that the disease that's out there appears to be more severe this year than we have seen in previous years. Is there a particular part of the state that's being affected by the flu or is it widespread? This year influenza is widespread as it is every year so it is certainly throughout the state. What we did see this year was that the season started in Northern California so towards the end of December beginning of January that's when things really started to increase in the north and that things are really starting to increase now in Southern California but we are certainly seeing flu throughout the state. And is it targeting a specific age group or persons? This year what we're seeing is that the greatest incidence of hospitalization is in older people so people over age 65. That's what we usually see with influenza so this year is similar in that regard. And Hal is this strain stronger than previous strains? Is it a little bit different or? There's one dominant strain that we're seeing this year it's called influenza A H3N2. That's a strain that is included in the influenza vaccine but when we see seasons where this virus predominates the disease does tend to be more severe. And what precautions are you recommending people take to avoid the flu? Well there's a couple of things. The first is and most importantly people should be vaccinated and it's not too late to be vaccinated. When flu circulates it usually stays around for a couple of months so people who get vaccinated now can still benefit. And I would really urge people who haven't been vaccinated yet to get the vaccine now. We recommend vaccination for everyone aged six months and above. There are also some other common sense things that people can do to protect themselves from the flu and other winter time viruses as well. Influenza is not the only virus that's out there. Things that people can do are wash your hands often or use alcohol based hand sanitizers. Stay away from people who are sick particularly if you are someone who has underlying health problems. If you yourself are sick stay home and don't spread your viruses to your friends or co-workers. Avoid touching your eyes or your mouth or your nose if you haven't lost your hands that's how these viruses are spread. And finally if you are coughing cover your cough to reduce the spread of viruses to others. So for someone like me who got vaccinated back in October is it beneficial to get vaccinated again or will that vaccination last throughout the season. That vaccination will last throughout the season so you only need one dose except for very young children who are getting flu vaccine for the first time but for most people one dose protects you throughout the season. And if family members in the house get sick and have the flu how long does the virus remain within the home. Well it can be contagious in the home for several days particularly if it's passed from person to person but someone who has fever and cough does remain infectious for a day or two after they start to feel better. So if you're caring for someone in your home it's really important that you wash your hands regularly make sure that you have that sick people have their own towels and cups and things like that and do everything that you can to prevent the spread of those respiratory secretions that carry the viruses with them. Well that's very good advice and we really appreciate you taking time today Dr. Watt to join us and we wish you good health as well. Thank you.