Cases of influenza are expected to peak this week, with hospital visits expected to climb to 100,000, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, advising people to get vaccinated and protect themselves during the holidays next month.
Hospitals last week reported 94,882 outpatient and emergency room visits for the flu, a 16.6 percent increase over the previous week, agency data showed.
Twenty-three flu cases with serious complications were reported last week, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said, adding that the nation could enter an epidemic period this week.
Photo courtesy of the Nantou County Public Health Bureau
Hospital visits could reach as high as 100,000 weekly, she said, encouraging the public to get vaccinated.
Last week’s cases with severe complications brought the total to 350 from Oct. 1 to Monday, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said.
Fifty-seven percent of those were people aged 65 or older, Lee said.
The end of the year means people are traveling, gathering with family and friends and going out for activities while temperatures have fallen sharply, increasing the risk of a flu epidemic, Tseng said.
The number of outpatient and emergency room visits rose to 94,882 last week from 81,399 two weeks ago, she said.
The rate of emergency room visits increased to 10.8 percent, near the 11 percent threshold to classify an epidemic period, she added.
Among those confirmed to have the flu and flu-related deaths, more than 90 percent did not receive this year’s vaccine, while the number of people vaccinated is lower than the same period last year, CDC data showed.
People aged 65 or older had a vaccination rate of 43.9 percent, while preschool children had a rate of 62.2 percent, both lower than the CDC’s target, the agency said.
As vaccines usually take two weeks to provide effective protection, people should get vaccinated soon, especially elderly people and those in other high-risk groups, it said.
Meanwhile, 13 new cases of COVID-19 were reported last week, bringing the total number of cases between Sept. 1 to Monday to 411, with 92 deaths, Lee said.
Most of the people were aged 65 or older or had medical histories of chronic illness, she said.
Among the confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported since Oct. 1, 98 percent had not received the new JN.1 vaccine, Lee said.
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