We don't need to tell you this if you've already been unlucky enough to come down with the flu this year, but it's bad.
In fact, state health officials say it's not the typical flu season – and that it's worse than in some years past.
But, what does this mean for you, if you haven't been sick yet?
9NEWS asked state Epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy.
9NEWS: Why is there more flu this year?
Herlihy: It's difficult to say. The virus that is predominating right now is the H3N2 virus and when the virus does predominate, we often see more severe illness -- especially among older adults. That could be part of the reason we're seeing a bit more flu, especially more severe flu.
Have we peaked or is it getting worse?
We haven't peaked yet. We're continuing to see more and more influenza activity. We don't know when we're going to peak. … We've had about 1,200 influenza hospitalizations as of the end of December. Some seasons we might have just 1,500 influenza-associated hospitalizations, there's other seasons you have well over 3,000.
So what if you're not among the people hospitalized with the flu?
I think there is a misperception that influenza isn't a severe illness and it certainly is, absolutely, among young children, older adults, people with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women.
The good news is that there's a vaccine!
We do see the vaccine work in the 50 percent range.
It's not a perfect vaccine by any means, but it certainly does greatly decrease the severity of illness, the length of illness and can make the difference between an older adult being hospitalized for influenza versus having a mild infection at home.
But is it too late to get one?
It's absolutely not too late.
