New information about the spread of the novel coronavirus continues to come out.
While many are worried about contracting the virus, experts say you should worry about something else.
Medical experts are warning that the flu continues to pose a much greater risk to people in central Illinois and the rest of the United States.
There have been 22 million flu illnesses in the U.S. this season and 12,000 deaths.
A total of 15 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus.
Dr. Janak Koirala, chief of infectious diseases at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, said flu “causes a lot more mortality in the United States than I think the coronavirus is going to cause.”
As of right now, there is no known vaccine for the coronavirus.
Doctors do recommend getting a flu shot to protect yourself from the “much more immediate threat" of the flu.
Gina Carnduff, Memorial Health System’s director of infection prevention, said it’s not too late to get a flu shot and added that it takes two weeks for the flu vaccine to ramp up a person’s immune system.
The risk of infection by coronavirus remains low in Illinois.