BATON ROUGE - The CDC continues to report a high number of flu cases while the coronavirus is making headlines around the globe.

Doctor Mindy Calandro at The Baton Rouge Clinic says she's been seeing up to eight flu cases a day and those are just her patients.

"We started out with a lot of influenza B, now we're starting to see that tradition over to influenza A," said Calandro.

The CDC reports over 15 million Americans have had the flu so far this season, including 54 pediatric deaths and more than 8,000 adult deaths. It's hitting hard across all age groups with the sicker ones being younger children and elder adults. But lately, talk has focused around the coronavirus. There are currently five confirmed cases in the United States, which doesn't even compare to the flu.

"We really just need to keep it in perspective," said Calandro. "I think when it comes to viruses like this it's something different, people haven't heard of it before and influenza, we're used to hearing about it every year so I think we forget just out deadly it can be."

Doctors continue to stress the importance of getting the flu vaccine. Calandro says while it may not prevent the flu, it can drastically reduce a person's chance of developing serious illness or death from the flu.

The CDC says flu numbers are expected to remain high for the next few weeks.