Flu ER Visits in Kane Still High, But Lower Than Last Week
Influenza surveillance for the Kane County Health Department show that the number of emergency room visits due to flu-like illness actually dropped a bit — good news after a spike and the news of an 3-year-old’s death in late December.
The Centers for Disease Control reported a similar trend nationwide. In this week’s flu report — for the week ending Jan. 5 — influenza activity remains elevated in the United States, but the proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness decreased from 4.0 to 3.5 percent.
Influenza surveillance for the Kane County Health Department includes the collection of data from hospital emergency rooms, laboratories, and public schools.
Kane County participants have reported the following aggregate measures:
- Among five reporting hospital emergency rooms, 4.8 percent of visits were for influenza-like illness.
During Week 1, six labs reported that 94 of 674 (13.9 percent) specimens tested for influenza were positive.- Of these 94 specimens: 76 (80.9 percent) were positive for Influenza A and 18 (19.2 percent) were positive for Influenza B. No other specimen tested positive for the week ending on Jan. 5, 2019.
- Public school districts were closed for winter break during Week 1.
- As of the week ending Jan. 5, there were eight influenza-related ICU admissions reported to the Kane County Health Department.
- One influenza-associated pediatric death has been reported.
- To date, no outbreaks of influenza have been reported in Long-Term Care/Assisted Living facilities in Kane County.
SOURCE: Kane County Health Department, CDC Influenza Surveillance Reports
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