Ohio now rates very high for flu activity, according to latest CDC report – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio If you havent already gotten you flu shot, its not too late. Thats the message from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Ohio Department of Public Health in response to rising rates of flu and respiratory illness across the state.

Ohios flu activity is currently rated as very high. This is the first time the state flu rates have been designated above high this season. The reason is for the unusually high numbers of hospitalizations, ER visits and outpatient visits for flu-like symptoms.

Normally flu season ends around March, but nearly all indicators are trending above the five-year average for this time of year, according to the latest data on the ODH website, though reporting does lag.

During the week ending Feb. 10, the last weekly report, there were 558 hospitalizations due to confirmed cases of influenza in Ohio. In addition, the number of physicians visits jumped by 30%.

Flu hospitalizations are highest in West Central and Northeast Ohio.

However, Northeast Ohio has had the highest number of flu hospitalizations for the season, and Cuyahoga County has had the highest percentage of hospitalizations (14%) of any county in the state. Franklin County is the next highest with 9.5%.

This means that Cuyahoga County is have more than its share of flu cases per capita, as the county accounts for about 10.4% of the states population, while Franklin county is getting fewer cases per capita, with 11.2% of the states population.

Although the exact species of flu virus in early-February surge is unknown, CDC monitoring of this years flu strains shows that they have been well covered by the 2023 vaccine.

Of the circulating virus thus far, 82% were found to be Influenza A, and 18% were influenza B. Among those FluA cases, 78% are subtype (H1N1) pdm09, and 22.3% are the H3N2 subtype. Meanwhile 100% of FluB cases are from the Victoria lineage of viruses.

All three of these strains are included in the current vaccine. Nationally, about half of American adults have been vaccinated.

Learn more about how to schedule a vaccination here.

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Ohio now rates very high for flu activity, according to latest CDC report - cleveland.com