While the coronavirus is affecting the world and there are fears of it coming to New York State, the flu is actually the biggest threat right now.

The New York Times reports that New York City has the biggest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia. People have been celebrating the Lunar New Year which means trips to China to visit relatives. With the coronavirus spreading rapidly in China with over 4,500 cases and over 100 dead, New York officials view it as inevitable that the virus will come to New York.

While there is a great concern about the coronavirus coming to New York there is actually a greater threat right now: the flu. The New York Times reports that there have been over 57,000 cases of the flu across New York State for this flu season. For the week that ended on January 18, 2020, there were more than 13,000 cases. Over 7,000 of those cases were in New York City. For the 2017-2018 flu season, there were over 10,000 cases for perspective.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says to protect yourself from the flu, you should get a flu vaccine and take daily precautions. These precautions include things like staying away from sick people and washing your hands. If you have the flu, stay home from work or school to prevent spreading the virus.

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