D.C. affected by nation's biggest flu season in 15 years
Why it matters: The virus is causing more severe complications and hitting young children especially hard.
"The two predominant strains that are circulating right now are known to be more severe and have more severe outcomes, especially in high-risk patients," said Carol McLay, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
"It's really clogging up our ERs and our outpatient facilities. And for the first time, we've seen cases of influenza that have surpassed COVID-19 in hospitalizations and deaths, since the COVID pandemic began," she said.
By the numbers: There have been at least 480,000 hospitalizations, and 21,000 deaths from flu as of Feb. 22, per the CDC. That's on a pace to surpass the previous high recorded during the 2017-2018 flu season.
D.C. peaked at 1,580 new positive flu cases in early February, then declined to 655 the last recorded week, per D.C. data.
Context: Despite the decline, D.C.'s most recent flu numbers are still higher than the peak of last year.
Zoom in: Hospital admissions for flu are up at Children's National, with the risk being highest among unvaccinated children, said Nia Bodrick, a pediatrician at the hospital.
She said it's not too late to get a flu vaccine.
"We're still in full swing of the flu season," Bodrick said. "I would estimate we will continue to see flu activity through March, maybe even early April."
For those who do get sick, Bodrick said it's important to distinguish between a common cold, which comes on over a number of days, often with a low-grade fever, while the flu generally comes on suddenly with more severe symptoms, including higher fevers
Parents should be particularly watchful for persistent fevers that won't go down over a couple of days, even with medicine like Tylenol, she said.
Between the lines: This flu season may be more severe because rates of seasonal flu vaccination have been falling in recent years for some groups, including children.
Compounding the problem is the fact that this year's flu vaccine was a bit less effective (35%) than in a typical year (45%).
People have also had much less exposure to flu in recent years amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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