Scripps Health Urges Vaccinations To Stop Flu, COVID From Mixing

SAN DIEGO — Scripps Health, a network of hospitals and clinics in San Diego, urged people in the county to get flu shots by the end of October to avoid catching the disease that is a threat along with COVID-19 as mask mandates are looser now than a year ago.

Hospitals now face the specter of seeing patients with both potentially debilitating respiratory diseases, Scripps Health Chief Medical Officer Ghazala Sharieff told Patch Wednesday.

“With the mask mandate lifted, we hope to see an uptick” in flu shot requests, Sharieff said. “You could certainly get flu and COVID at the same time, and this is more of a concern.”

Flu prevention matters a lot in the cooler months just ahead because COVID-19 response has limited the availability of health care resources, Scripps said in a statement.

Scripps offers flu shots and the first of two COVID-19 vaccinations at the same time, followed by a second COVID-19 shot at a later date, Sharieff said. Flu vaccinations are plentiful this year, with fees varying according to a person’s health insurance, she added.

Flu cases countywide came to just 701 last year, with two deaths, because masks were required indoors and outdoors. That total was down from 20,591 flu cases and 105 related deaths in 2019. The county has logged a cumulative 346,205 COVID-19 cases and 3,966 deaths.

The nonprofit Scripps network, founded in 1924, treated more than 600,000 patients annually through 3,000 affiliated doctors and more than 16,000 employees. It has five hospitals and 28 clinics.