TRAVERSE CITY — Northern Michigan is feeling the effects of a nationwide surge in cases of flu and other respiratory illnesses.
Munson Healthcare says that as of Jan. 7, about two dozen Northern Michigan residents were hospitalized with the flu.
“The state of Michigan has been in very high level of flu activity for the last month or so, but we were a little bit late to the party here in Northern Michigan,” said Dr. Joe Santangelo, Chief Medical, Quality and Safety Officer for Munson.
Data from the last week of December showed more than 900 Michigan residents hospitalized with the flu as health experts say the disease could be reaching its peak.
“We’re a little concerned it’s going to be — it’s here early, it’s going to be high, and it’s going to last longer than we normally have seen in the past,” said Dr. John Brooks, McLaren Health Care’s Medical Director of Infection Protection.
Around the country, about 5,000 people have died from the flu this season, including 9 children.
Last flu season, close to 300 children died nationally due to the flu. A majority of those children had an underlying medical condition or were not fully vaccinated.
Michigan hasn’t had a pediatric flu death this season so far — but last season, the state lost more than a dozen children to influenza.
“We highly recommend that everybody six months and older receives the influenza vaccine for this season,” said Jacalyn Money-Bruno, Director of Prevention and Community Health for the Grand Traverse County Health Department.
Common flu symptoms include a fever or chills, a cough or sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and head or body aches.
More severe symptoms could be dangerous or life-threatening.
“It’s really important that people call their doctor right away if you have any difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, if you have chest pain, dizziness, confusion,” Santangelo said.
Experts also say it isn’t too late in the season to get a flu shot or Covid booster. The vaccines take about two weeks to reach their maximum effectiveness.
“For some people, that could be the difference between, you know, being hospitalized and not being hospitalized,” Money-Bruno said. “People who are vaccinated have lower chance of death related to flu.”
Brooks suggests people buy flu A and B tests, which are available at pharmacies and sometimes combined with a Covid test.
Catching a flu infection early means that medicines like Tamiflu are more likely to be effective in fighting the disease.
“That way, you can contact your physician and get treatment — and you only have about two days from the onset of symptoms until we give antiviral, so we got to make that quick,” Brooks said.