Maine’s flu cases are rising at a time of year when seasonal illness tends to decline, the state’s top public health official warned Wednesday.
dr. Nirav D. Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said there were nine outbreaks of flu-like illnesses in the state in the past week, the highest number of outbreaks in a single week since February 2020, just before the COVID-19 outbreak. pandemic struck. Shah made the warning in a series of posts on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
The flu usually peaks in February, when people are most likely to be indoors and the virus can spread easily. It tends to disappear in the spring, when the weather warms up and people move outside, where the disease doesn’t spread as easily.
Flu activity during the 2020-21 season was “unusually low,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said a record number of flu vaccinations were distributed last year, and measures taken to reduce COVID likely had the added benefit of curbing the spread of the flu.
1/I usually post about #COVIDbut it’s important not to forget #influenza†
Flu activity is increasing. While it is typically low at this time of year, Maine has experienced an uptick. Most indicators are higher than at any time since the start of the pandemic.
— Nirav D. Shah (@nirav_mainecdc) May 18, 2022
The CDC said those steps, such as wearing masks, staying home more, closing schools, reducing travel and other measures, likely helped quell the spread of the flu last year.
The CDC said there was also a very low number of flu strains circulating in 2020-21.
But Shah said flu indicators are now higher than at any time since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
He said there were 700 positive flu tests in Maine last week, the most since March 2020 and far more than last year. By comparison, Shah said, there were 215 positive flu tests throughout the 2020-21 season.
And, he said, two major reference labs reported a test positivity rate of more than 20 percent, also the highest figure since March 2020. Last week was also the largest number of tests performed this season — 1,210 — Shah said, “suggesting that the high positivity rate is not due to lack of testing.”
Other indicators cited by Shah include an increase in the percentage of outpatient doctor visits for flu and hospitalizations for flu treatment. He said there were 17 people in Maine hospitals last week because of the flu.
Shah said prescription antiviral drugs can be used to treat the flu and reduce the risk of serious complications.
Flu vaccinations were available through doctors’ offices and pharmacies in the winter, but are probably not available now.
A spokeswoman for the pharmacy chain CVS said the flu vaccine was not available in any of its stores. She said the chain expects the vaccine for the 2022-23 flu season by mid-August.
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