CINCINNATI — Flu hospitalization rates in the United States are the highest they’ve been in more than a decade, according to the CDC. The agency estimates there have been 2,900 flu deaths already this year.
In Ohio, 433 people were hospitalized with flu during the week ending Nov. 19. The average number of hospitalizations over the past five years at this time was about 19.
“Every inch of my body just completely hurt,” said Carrie Dotson, who lives in Burlington.
Dotson had never had flu before this year.
“Our whole family was down,” she said. “Everybody in the house.”
It happened to Jessica Back’s kids too.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Back, who lives in Independence. “It's heartbreaking when your kids are sick.”
Her kids had just gotten over RSV.
“I think it was literally a day break and then they got the flu,” she said. “About five and a half, six weeks they were sick. It was nuts.”
“People will tell you, ‘The flu is kind of kicking me this year,’” said Mercy Health’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Stephen Feagins. “It’s consistent with the circulating strain.”
Feagins said that strain is more severe and cases are more prolonged.
“This is as early as we've seen this level of influenza in over 10 years,” he said.
Hospitalization numbers are highest in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas, as of Dec. 1.
“Why is that? We don't know,” he said. “But we do know that right now we're kind of bearing the brunt of it for the state.”
There’s also a nationwide shortage of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug used to treat the flu.
“It's because of a supply and demand mismatch,” Feagins said. “They simply don't anticipate prescribing this much Tamiflu this time of year. They're catching up to that and it's going to take a couple of weeks to do that.”
Feagins said it’s difficult to explain the severity of this flu season specifically.
“We can only guess,” he said. “You presume that there's a lack of immunity because we really haven't seen flu for two and a half years.”
Feagins said the holidays are likely to cause cases to rise too. He recommends getting the flu vaccine, washing your hands frequently and considering using a mask.
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