MedStar treating 9 people each day on average for flu-like illness in December

FORT WORTH, Texas — MedStar has been busy this month.

The emergency and non-emergency ambulance service provider for 15 Tarrant County cities told WFAA its crews are treating an average of nine people each day for flu-like illness in December.

“We were shocked at how dramatically this has increased over the last three months,” MedStar spokesperson Matt Zavadsky said. 

“The average age of the people calling 911 and requesting EMS for what is determined to be an influenza-like illness is 61 and the majority are male so far,” Zavadsky told WFAA.

Last year’s data shows ambulance crews were treating an average of 1.4 patients for flu-like illness each day in December 2021.

“We’re not masking. We’re not doing some of the things that we were doing perhaps two years ago, and our bodies might not have the same type of immune system that we had a couple of years ago because we haven’t been exposed to some of these,” Zavadsky said. “So those things are probably converging and resulting in the extremely high flu volume that we’re seeing.”

Patients are reporting symptoms like headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and body aches, according to Zavadsky.

Some patients who call 911 for flu-like illnesses do need to be taken to the hospital. But for those who don’t, Zavadsky said ambulance crews and a telemedicine physician are able to offer telemedicine from the scene.

“Oftentimes, the telemedicine physician will be able to call in a prescription or make a referral to an urgent care or some other type of resource,” Zavadsky said.

To help put an end to this trend, MedStar is offering to bring a mobile flu vaccination clinic to any location with a group of 10 or more who would like to be vaccinated. Click here for more information.