COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Statistics provided to the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency Board of Health during their Thursday meeting showed how bad this flu season has been so far for schools in the three counties the agency serves.
For the current Fiscal Year of 2019-2020, schools in the three counties have reported 2,471 cases of colds without fever compared with 1,766 cases for the same period during Fiscal Year 2018-2019.
Meanwhile, there have been 3,327 cases of flu like diseases compared with 2,063 last year.
Influenza remains a major concern as cases have sky rocketed from just 30 last year to 565 so far this year.
Several school districts in the area including Union City and Bronson had to shut down over the last month due to the number of students and staff members who came down with the flu or flu like illnesses.
In Branch County alone, there have been 836 cases of colds without fever, 1,367 reports of flu like diseases and 215 cases of the flu after there were just four cases last year at this time.
