Liz Burke, WPRO News

Flu season is not over yet. In fact, it’s still going very strong.

“The flu continues to be widespread. We are seeing very vigorous flu activity, lots of people sick, lots of hospitals admitting patients and a lot of emergency rooms pretty busy,” says Rhode Island Department of Health Director Dr. Michael Fine.

Dr. Fine says emergency rooms in Rhode Island have had about three times the normal amount of patients with flu-like symptoms this year.

“The way CDC classifies flu activity is, the highest level is widespread. We are at widespread with much of the rest of the country. We actually developed the flu a little earlier than some other places. We were earlier than some of the New England states. But we have not seen a drop in activity yet,” says Dr. Fine.

He says you’ll know when you have the flu based on certain symptoms.

“You have a fever and your whole body hurts and it hurts so much that your hair hurts. It hurts to lift up your head, you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck,” says Dr. Fine.

Dr. Fine says it’s not too late to get a flu shot. He actually encourages anyone who hasn’t already gotten one to get one. He says close to 400,000 Rhode Islanders have received the flu shot but around 600,000 have not so far.