COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The first official local update on the current severity and scope of this flu season from the Branch-Hillsdale-St Joseph Community Health Agency scope of the illness was delivered Thursday. The health agency is reporting a significant uptick in reports of flu-like illnesses over those reported in November.
According to Steve Todd, Health Officer for the tri-county health department, while the actual number of reported flu cases since the end of November has only grown from 0 to 13 cases, the number of flu-like illnesses has more than tripled in the past six weeks, growing from 248 to 866 as of Thursday.
And West Michigan residents are dying from the flu. Borgess Medical Center Infection Control Director Dr. David Davenport in Kalamazoo told us Tuesday that three had died. That number has since increased to 4. Bronson Methodist Hospital now informs us that they have just had one flu related death, and WOOD-TV 8 says Kent County Health officials report they have had 9 deaths at their local hospitals.
Over 30,000 die from the flu in an average year. That may increase this year because of the nasty strain that is doing most of the damage and the vaccine’s inability to prevent it in most people. Almost all of the victims were older patients with other underlying health problems. Doctors and hospitals are only required to report deaths when the patients are under two years old.
