Had the flu lately? If so, you’re not alone.
The nation is experiencing rare back-to-back rough flu seasons. A new highly contagious variant of influenza A has been spreading through families, and children have been hit particularly hard.
From Jan. 11 to 17, the Center for Disease Control reported the highest weekly rate of flu-associated hospitalization for children since the 2010-11 season. In north central Florida, meanwhile, flu-related emergency department visits peaked at the end of December, when they exceeded the three-year average for the percent of discharges with flu diagnoses.
The flu is commonly spread in schools. UF Health Shands Hospital saw the number of flu positives drop over winter break, said Nicole Iovine, UF Health’s chief hospital epidemiologist. Cases went from 80 or 90 per week to around 60 per week with school out for the holidays. But in the past week, as students returned to class, Shands saw about 100 positive cases.
“What we're seeing now really fits perfectly with that phenomenon of school restarting, the virus being transmitted and then we start seeing the big increase,” said Iovine.
The high levels are largely due to the emergence of a mutated strain, subclade K. Iovine said strains are expected to mutate year to year.
However, this mutated strain had more changes than expected, with six to seven mutations, which may explain why it has been so transmissible.
The best defense against the flu is getting vaccinated, Iovine said. While the vaccine may not prevent a person from contracting the virus, she said, the vaccine prevents severe disease, hospitalization and death.
Iovine said she hopes to see the cases trail off toward the end of February.
The most common symptoms students presented were a sore throat, low-grade fever and cough, according to an email statement from Johnelly Green, nurse supervisor of Alachua County Public Schools. Green said the schools did not experience a surge in confirmed flu cases, but the nurses did see many students present flu-like symptoms.
Part of the reason viruses like the flu spread easily in schools is because students unknowingly attend school while contagious. Rachel Coleman, a 47-year-old pediatrician, said that makes it challenging to stop the spread in schools.
“Kids can be contagious before they really feel significantly sick,” Coleman said, “so they'll often go to school contagious, and the flu is really contagious.”
This season has seen 44 pediatric influenza-related deaths nationwide, and 90% of those deaths were children who were not fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. There have been no pediatric influenza-related deaths yet this season in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health.
In Florida, immunizations against the flu in children over 6 months old have declined by 12% since the 2019-20 season, according to the National Immunization Survey-Flu. Florida’s vaccination rate in children over 6 months is 13.8% lower than the nation’s coverage.
On Jan. 5, the CDC changed its universal recommendation of the flu vaccine for children to instead be based on shared clinical-based decisions. Children can still receive the flu shot, but parents are first recommended to speak with a healthcare provider about whether it is necessary for their child.
Coleman said mixed messaging has understandably confused parents.
“I would say the messaging that is currently happening in regards to vaccines in general is having an extremely detrimental effect on the spread of flu cases,” Coleman said.
Tina Days, a 47-year-old mom of three students in Alachua County Public Schools, said she appreciated the FluMist spray ACPS offered her children.
With written parental consent, students at all ACPS schools can receive a dose of FluMist spray in October and November. Days said two of her children received the FluMist at their schools this year. She appreciates the convenience of the program, she said, because she does not have to take off work to bring her children to an appointment.
She said she has made it a priority for her children to get vaccinated and the FluMist ever since her entire family contracted COVID-19 in 2020.
“Anything that lessens the symptoms, I'm all for it,” Days said.
Andrea Mesa, a 41-year-old fourth grade teacher at Hidden Oaks Elementary School, described the flu season as more intense for ACPS compared to past seasons. She said she is still seeing a lot of absences even after winter break.
“I would say November, December and into January, a lot of students absent,” Mesa said.
Mesa, who is a mom of a second grader and a kindergartener, explained how the virus swept through her family. She said her son got sick first, then passed it to her daughter, and then she and her husband caught it.
“It was a little scary at times,” Mesa said.
Caroline Walsh is a contributing writer for The Alligator.
Caroline is a freshman sports journalism student in her second semester at The Alligator. She is a photographer for the Multimedia desk. In her free time, she enjoys running and watching hockey.
