The flu season will continue until the middle of May, so experts say people should still take precautions.
“Typically the flu season runs from October to May, so we’re still in the midst of the traditional season,” said Dan Suffoletto, public information manager for Public Health - Dayton and Montgomery County.
With that in mind, it’s not too late to get a flu vaccination, he said.
Flu shots are available at most doctor’s offices and pharmacies. For more information or to find a location, visit vaccines.gov.
“It’s still very important if people are having signs and symptoms of the flu to stay home if they’re sick to help reduce the spread,” Suffoletto said.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
There have been a total of 11,480 flu-related hospitalizations this season so far, according to ODH. Of those, 771 have taken place in Montgomery County, representing 6.7% of all flu-related hospitalizations.
Butler, Clark and Greene counties have had 251, 214 and 201 flu-related hospitalizations, respectively, this season, according to ODH.
Hospital capacity is also opening up with 23.5% of inpatient hospital beds being available in the Dayton region, as well as 22.3% of intensive care unit beds being open, according to ODH’s most recent week of data.
The week prior had 20.9% of inpatient beds and 18.48% of ICU beds available, ODH data says.
Visits to outpatient settings and emergency departments for flu-like symptoms are also decreasing. According to ODH:
- 11.58% of outpatient visits in Ohio are for flu-like illnesses, which is down by 14.41% over the previous week of data.
- 2.93% of ER visits in Ohio are for fevers and flu-like illnesses, which is a decrease of 20.38%.
- 17.82% of ER visits in Ohio are for constitutional symptoms, which are non-specific symptoms pointing to a generalized. Those symptoms include fever, fatigue, body aches, weight loss and more. Those are down by 11.74% over the previous week of data.
While all of the state’s figures are decreasing, they are still above the five-year average for this time of year. The five year average for this week of the flu season had 491 flu-related hospitalizations, 11.56% of ER visits were for constitutional symptoms, 2.41% of ER visits were for flu-like illnesses and 5.25% of outpatients were for flu-like illnesses, according to ODH.
There has only been one juvenile flu-related death reported this year in Ohio, according to ODH. Nationally, there were 18 influenza-associated deaths among minors in the U.S. reported in the most recent week of data for a total of 86 pediatric deaths this season.
The CDC also says 3% of the deaths in the U.S. reported in the most recent week of data were related to the flu. There were 43,367 flu-related hospitalizations in the U.S. in the most recent week of data, according to the National Healthcare Safety Network’s hospital respiratory data.
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