Overall flu activity and the number of flu-related hospitalizations continues to rise throughout the Miami Valley but the number of cases show signs of leveling off, according to the most recent figures from Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County.
There were a total of 70 flu-related hospitalizations in the 10-county area tracked by the health department for the week ending Saturday, but that was just one more than the total number of hospitalizations for the previous week, preliminary figures from the health department show.
Montgomery County reported the highest number of flu-related hospitalizations in the Miami Valley last week with 37, but that was down from 39 in the previous week.
Meanwhile, nearby Clark County saw the number of flu-related hospitalizations cut nearly in half from nine to five over the same period.
Greene County saw the biggest spike in flu-related hospitalizations in the area with a more than tenfold increase last week compared to the previous week, but the total number of cases rose from just one to 11, health department figures show.
Flu reports for last week are still coming in from local hospitals, and the most recent figures are subject to revision, said Dan Suffoletto, a spokesman for the local health department.
But the preliminary numbers show a stark contrast from the last week in January compared to the first week in February when the number of hospitalizations in the Miami Valley spiked more than 40 percent from 48 to 69, according to the local health department.
“This is the time of year traditionally when they (flu-related hospitalizations) start to level off, but it will probably take another week or two to see where the trend is going,” Suffoletto said.
Statewide, there were 396 flu-related hospitalizations in Ohio during the week ending Feb. 4 - the most recent week for which statewide figures are available.
That was just one more than the number of cases reported in the previous week, but weekly totals for 2017 have remained above seasonal averages since the beginning of the year when the number of cases statewide nearly doubled to 285 from 157 in the final week of 2016.
The spike in flu cases coincided with at least three flu-related child deaths over the past two weeks, including a 6-year-old girl in Cuyahoga County, a 7-year-old girl in Fulton County and 6-year-old boy from Columbiana County, ODH reported last week.
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