Chesapeake, Va. (WTKR) - The New Year isn't starting off so healthy for many in Hampton Roads.
Doctors report plenty of people coming down with upper respiratory infections and the common cold, but so far actual flu activity remains low.
A spokeswoman for Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters says flu activity there has been very low and Stephen Biggs, a Physician's Assistant with Patient First, reports the same thing.
Biggs says a cold will progress gradually, while the flu tends to hit rather abruptly.
"A cold is sort of a gradual onset, so you'll get a sore, scratchy throat maybe a low grade fever, body aches, congestion. A flu is very abrupt. It hits you - I always ask the question do you feel like you've been run over by a truck," Biggs explained to NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo Wednesday.
Health care professionals warn that just because the flu isn't very active right now, that doesn't mean it couldn't get worse later in the season.
They also say it's not too late to get a flu shot.
