Flu Hospitalizations Decline

Hospitalizations for the flu may be on a decline in Muskingum County, but that doesn’t necessarily mean flu season is coming to an end.

The average flu season lasts from October to April. According to Epidemiologist, Kristen Baker, we may be seeing a decrease in flu related hospitalizations right now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t peak again.

“The CDC does say that we do have a peak, and then it’ll decrease, and then sometimes we do have another strain come in and there’s another peak of people getting sick with the flu,” said Baker. “If we do have another peak it will most likely be one of the other three strains that we do have in the vaccine that are well matched to those circulating.”

According to Baker the number of hospitalized influenza cases has been high this year due to the mutated influenza strain, H3N2. Baker says the flu vaccine is still highly effective, but not as effective as it has been in past years.

“We did see a big increase in influenza associated hospitalizations (this year) there were 41 hospitalization in December,” said Baker. “We have seen a decrease in those too, the second week in January there were about 4, and this last week we’ve had about 7, so we did see a dramatic increase towards the end of the year, and now it’s been decreasing.”

Due to the probability of another peak in flu hospitalizations it is still extremely important to take precautions to avoid getting sick. Including constantly washing your hands, avoiding large crowds when you feel ill, and never touching your eyes, mouth or nose.