From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— State health officials report a child in northern Wisconsin has died from the flu, the first pediatric flu death in the state this respiratory disease season.
Tom Haupt, respiratory disease epidemiologist with the state Department of Health Services, says Wisconsin typically has seen one to six pediatric flu deaths each year since they became reportable about two decades ago.
“So it’s not outside the norm that this happened, but regardless it’s a tragedy that happened,” he said today during an online briefing.
He is urging residents to get vaccinated, noting it’s “the best way to prevent complications” such as hospitalization and death. Haupt said anyone with relatives in long-term care facilities, children or family members with underlying illnesses should do so to protect those around them.
Children under age 5 are at higher risk of complications from flu, RSV and COVID-19 due to their age, and other conditions including diabetes and asthma raise their likelihood of complications.
The state is currently seeing peak activity or close to it for all three of these respiratory illnesses, Haupt said. While COVID-19 levels are on the decline and RSV is at “moderate” activity, he said flu activity is still rising.
“It’s still on the increase, though we are starting to see it potentially level off a little bit, which is good news,” he said. “It did rise very quickly over the past few weeks … some of the other colleagues in the Midwest are seeing declines. We are not seeing a decline yet, but we’re hoping that within the next few weeks we will see a decline in influenza activity.”
At the national level, a total of 16 pediatric flu deaths have been reported, according to DHS.
See more in the release below.
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