BY Scott Miller | December 30, 2020 One of the many ‘seasonal starts’ that comes about this time of year is the beginning of the flu season, but it appears to be starting off more slowly in years past in the region. A year ago there were plenty of news reports about the rise of influenza among the public, but Scotts Bluff County Public Health Director Paulette Schnell said so far this year, that’s just not the case. “Our time here that peaks usually starts in January going into February, and we’ll see, but we do start usually seeing a few cases, and we’ve seen very few,” said Schnell. “A lot of the things that we do to prevent COVID also prevent influenza; wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing, all cut down on that also. So we might see less influenza this year, that’s our hope.”