Lexington is reporting its first flu related death of the season.

It happened last weekend or last week, rather, according to the Lexington Fayette County Health Department, the person was older than 100 and also had COVID.

Kevin Hall with the Lexington Fayette County Health Department said even though older adults are at higher risk of death from the flu.

Everyone, he said, should get vaccinated against it.

Our highest risk are people over 50 years of age.

Anyone with a an underlying health condition.

So you're thinking about people with diabetes, heart issues, lung issues, cancer.

So those are going to be at high risk.

And if you think about Kentucky, those issues are prevalent throughout the Commonwealth.

So kids younger than five, particularly younger than two, are at high risk.

So not necessarily every case of the high risk people will end up with a fatality.

But often we end up with hospitalizations and we want to avoid that.

Last year we had 16 people die from flu related complications, and with the first one this year, there are things that we can do to make sure that those number stays as little as possible.

Last week, Lexington reported 95 new cases of the flu, the highest number of new cases in a week so far this season.

That brings Lexington total number of lab confirmed flu cases to 364.

The city also saw 221 new COVID 19 cases last week.

But Kevin Hall tells us the numbers are not necessarily giving a clear picture when it comes to flu and COVID infections.

When you look at the flu, it's estimated that 5 to 10% of the population contracts that each year.

So here in Lexington, that's more than 30,000 people.

Compare that to last year.

We had over 3000 people with lab confirmed cases.

So that gives you an idea of what those numbers actually mean.

That's just the tip of the iceberg with COVID.

There's no true way right now to understand how prevalent it is in the community, because so many people are using those at home test kits.

They're not going to a medical provider and getting those lab confirmed.

So many people are using those.

Add on test kits instead of going to a medical provider, which is great.

We want to make this as easy as possible and not tax our medical providers, but we know it's spreading.

We know it's out there.

And if you look at the last few weeks, the numbers have been trending upward.

Last flu season was the highest we've had on record in Bay County, had more than 3000 confirmed cases.

And a lot of that comes from some testing that was being done at the University of Kentucky.

So while we're nowhere near that at this point, with over 360 cases so far in the flu season, that number will only go up as we go into peak season in late January, early February.

Now is the time to take the steps to protect yourself.

And the first step you can take is to get the flu shot.

Hall said people should contact their medical provider or area pharmacy to schedule flu and COVID shots.

Those without insurance should contact their public health department to see if it offers free flu and COVID shots.