States are offering free vaccines, along with school districts, all in an effort to combat a flu season that statistically is proving to be one of the worst in recent years.

Chances are that anyone working in a hospital doesn’t need statistics to tell them that this flu season is worse than most. Still, the numbers are sobering.

• In 49 states and Puerto Rico, the flu outbreak is considered widespread. Only Hawaii and the District of Columbia haven’t been given that designation yet. This is the first time that all 48 contiguous states have reported widespread flu in the same week.
• Nationally, 37 pediatric deaths so far are being attributed to the flu. The number of flu-related deaths in Texas has topped 2,300. It’s even taken the life of a 42-year-old nurse in West Virginia.
• 6.6 percent of everyone seeking medical care are presenting with flu symptoms, according to data from the Center for Disease Control. During an average flu season, that number is closer to two. It’s gotten so bad that six school districts in Oklahoma closed because so many staff and students were out.

Flu season creating an opportunity for the flexible

While hospitals in some regions are adding staff to deal with facilities that are over capacity, recruiters say they aren’t seeing a widespread increase in staffing travelers to help augment the permanent staff.

“The chatter I’m hearing is that the hospitals are super swamped due to the flu and need help, but the managers are not getting permission to open positions for us to fill,” said Richard Dunn, a recruiter with Liquid Agents Healthcare. “So most of my people are saying the units are super busy, and understaffed.”

For the traveler, that means that there may be more opportunity as long as you remain flexible about location and are open to places like Texas, Illinois, California, Arizona, or Georgia.

Get your flu shot. This year, it’s required.

Experts at the CDC are expecting the flu season to peak in the next few weeks, so these conditions should soon subside.

Until it does, some hospitals and staffing agencies are doing what they can to support staff that they know are stretched thin. Travelers have taken to social media to share stories of gifts when they succumb to the illness themselves and meals for those staff that is working with a higher-than-normal number of ill patients.

The CDC also reminds that with weeks of flu activity still to go, it’s not too late to get the vaccine if you haven’t already. Recruiters say that’s good advice for a different reason–this year, you need it to get a job. Many hospitals that had, in years past, made a flu vaccination optional are now calling it a requirement for employment.