‘Don’t soldier on’: Cook’s message to those with flu symptoms as cases spike

Roger Cook has urged West Australians who have flu-like symptoms not to “soldier on” and go to work as cases soar across the State.

The Premier’s comments came after it was revealed there had already been more than 8000 registered cases of the influenza in Western Australia in 2025, more than double that of the same time last year.

Nearly one fifth of those cases have ended up in hospital.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Cook said those with symptoms should stay at home.

“This winter if you’re feeling unwell, don’t soldier on,” he said.

“Make sure you stay away from your workplace, keep yourself and your family as healthy as you can.

“Don’t take your influenza, your contagious, infectious diseases to work.”

The message was echoed by chief health officer Andrew Robertson who urged anyone feeling sick to look after themselves.

“If you have flu symptoms, the message is obviously stay at home, don’t go to work, don’t go out shopping, don’t go to sport,” he said.

“Obviously they need to rest and if they become unwell, particularly if they have any other health issues, consider going to the GP and to our emergency department, noting that it is a busy time of year for all of our hospitals.”

Dr Robertson attributed WA’s much higher base rate of influenza cases earlier in the year to travellers returning from Europe, where cases had also spiked.

He said vaccination rates in the State were low at just under 25 per cent, although it is about 2 per cent higher than this time last year.

“People have become a little complacent over the period of time (since COVID), we got very good at washing our hands, wearing masks if we were feeling unwell, sneezing into our elbows, all of those things,” he said.

“We’ve gotten a lot less complacent and probably more so people coming back to work when really they are unwell.”

Dr Robertson said the Department of Health was looking at ways to improve vaccine uptake.

“There are a number of things that could be done, we’re looking at increasing the number of practitioners who can provide vaccines, we’re looking at how do we better target the communications to the different groups,” he said.

“We appreciate that targeting younger age groups and targeting older age groups requires different sort of communications, so they’re a key factor we are continue to look at.”

Mr Cook was emphatic in his advice to West Australians to get vaccinated ahead of the still-to-come flu season peak.

“I warned you, I told everyone — make sure you take advantage of the State Government’s free flu vax program,” he said.

“We know it’s going to be a tough flu season if we’re not all doing our bit, that puts our hospitals under pressure and you have seen that uplift of flu cases in our hospital system.”