OPINION — Editorial

Public health notice

Despite the state's best efforts, at last report 15 more Arkansans have been claimed by the deadliest outbreak of influenza in a couple of decades. That was the word last week from Dirk Haselow, the state's official epidemiologist, though his vocabulary is more scientific than the Arkansas vernacular. "In my history at the [state] Health Department," he recalled, "I've never seen a season dominated by Influenza B, or that switched from one strain to another" the way this virus does. Which means someone infected with one variety of the bug could still be laid low by another during this same deadly season.

And it's not just Arkansas, for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the numbers of the infected have already reached the levels attained back in 2009, which is when a new strain of flu--H1N1--hit the country.

So wash your hands, praise the Lord and pass the vaccine. It's available free to the uninsured, so there's no excuse not to protect you and yours. "Even if you've had the flu," Dirk Haselow reminds one and all, "it's not too late to get your shot." Here's to your health!

Editorial on 02/19/2018

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