WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – While the worst of the flu season is behind us, a health expert says we’re not out of the woods yet.
Winnebago County Health Director Doug Gieren says this year has been worse than past years since the main strain has been the H3N2, which is more potent than the typical H1N1.
“80% of the viruses have been what we call Influenza A, instead of Influenza B. The strain is a little bit more severe, so the illnesses have been more severe. That’s resulted in more illnesses and more hospitalizations.”
Gieren explains how things looked through the third week of February.
“We’ve had 97 pediatric deaths reported nationwide. There have been none in Wisconsin. It’s significantly more than in the past couple years.”
He notes this year has been even worse than the last notably fatal season of 2014-15, where there were 80 deaths through the same amount of time.
“We appear to be past peak. However, the season has many weeks yet to go. Typically as the season moves on, we start to see more Influenza B.”
Despite that being a less severe illness, Gieren says it’s still important for folks to get vaccinated.
He notes the season could last until May.
On Wednesday, HSHS lifted a set of restrictions that were in place for nearly a month at its Northeast Wisconsin hospitals. The restrictions were meant to limit the spread of the flu.
