CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Flu season is still vital in the state of West Virginia, after many were sick during the past holiday season. State health officials predict flu activity will continue to make its way into March.
Last December, West Virginia Influenza Coordinator Shannon McBee, an epidemiologist with the state Bureau of Public Health said the widespread flu activity in the state was the earliest and worse its been in five years. As of now, they reported the same activity this past week in the Mountain State.
“The number of outbreaks that have been reported across the state have decreased. We’ve seen slightly lower numbers in the number of confirmed cases reported to the state, but they’re still pretty high,” said McBee.
Flu symptoms include cold chills, body aches, fever, cough and/or a sore throat. The anticipated season usually begins in January, but McBee said this year it started a couple weeks earlier than expected. She anticipated the season will be longer than it was in previous years because of the late start.
“The average flu season lasts about 13 weeks, so this was the 11th straight week that we’ve had significant activity across the state,” she said.
The Bureau of Public Health has not had any pediatric deaths reported to the state recently, but have had related deaths reported for those over the age of 18. McBee said almost all of those deaths have been over the age of 65. They saw a slow decline in activity, but have still seen significant acts.
“I would expect activity to be elevated at least for several more weeks moving into March,” said McBee.
She said they’ve had a lot of other respiratory viruses across the state that have picked up speed with similar symptoms to the flu, such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections, but unfortunately, it’s just a matter of time before this activity clears out.