joining us live now is abc seven news special correspondent doctor alok patel. happy new year. >> happy new year to you karina. >> let's hope for a healthy 2024. but it seems like it's off to a rough start for anyone that's battling the flu or covid right now. are we seeing a lot of cases at this point? we are. >> i have to remind people that what we're seeing is indicative of a typical cold and flu season. we are at these numbers that we saw pre-pandemic. but here is one thing that is kind of concerning is last year it looks like around this time we started to peak with influenza cases. we are still kind of rising right now. and with covid hospitalizations, we are seeing an increase over the past almost two months with some states, especially on the east coast, seeing a 3 to 60% increase in hospitalizations. so it's out there. >> well, in los angeles and new york, they reinstated their mask mandates because of flu and covid cases. could we see that here in the bay area? >> we potentially could, especially in hospitals? i think that's the important thing right n