State's swine flu cases may have peaked, officials say
October 28, 2009 11:40 AM
THE GAZETTE
Cases of H1N1 flu appear to have peaked in El Paso County and other parts of Colorado in the last couple of weeks, but health officials warn that reaching a peak doesn’t mean the virus is a has-been.
In fact, there have been five more deaths reported in Colorado in the last week, for a total of 25. Some 1,300 people have been hospitalized.
“It’s still a tremendous amount of flu activity,” said Dr. Bernadette Albanese, medical director at the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment. “Being just past the peak is interesting, but it still amounts to a whole lot of people in our county getting sick with flu.”
El Paso County may have reached the height of H1N1 activity the week ending Oct. 24, she said, although that won’t be conclusive for another week or so as additional reports come in.
“For our county, we may be at peak or just past the peak,” she said.
The Denver and Boulder metro area peaked the week ending Oct. 10, according to The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Such determinations are based on a variety of measures that include hospitalizations, school absenteeism rates, deaths, and visits to ERs and outpatient clinics by people who report flu-like symptoms.
El Paso County may have reached the height of H1N1 activity the week ending Oct. 24, she said, although that won’t be conclusive for another week or so as additional reports come in.
“For our county, we may be at peak or just past the peak,” she said.
The Denver and Boulder metro area peaked the week ending Oct. 10, according to The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Such determinations are based on a variety of measures that include hospitalizations, school absenteeism rates, deaths, and visits to ERs and outpatient clinics by people who report flu-like symptoms.
In El Paso County, hospitalizations, ER visits and school absences have declined since earlier this month, but visits to outpatient clinics were up slightly as of Saturday.
Still, reaching a peak doesn’t mean much, practically speaking. If numbers are down slightly from earlier this month, they are still high for this time of year. The state health department, in a news release, said “Colorado still is in the middle of a historic flu season.”
And a short-term decline doesn’t preclude additional spikes in flu cases later this season. Nor does it account for the fact that seasonal flu has yet to appear.
Health officials say the urgency remains for people to get vaccinated.
H1N1 vaccine is trickling into Colorado. The state has received 270,000 doses so far, about 30,000 of those for El Paso County. So far the vaccine has been set aside for the most high risk groups such as health care workers, children and pregnant women. El Paso County’s first scheduled public vaccination clinic is Nov. 11 at Coronado High School, 1590 W. Fillmore St. Doses to date have gone to hospitals and health care providers.
Still, reaching a peak doesn’t mean much, practically speaking. If numbers are down slightly from earlier this month, they are still high for this time of year. The state health department, in a news release, said “Colorado still is in the middle of a historic flu season.”
And a short-term decline doesn’t preclude additional spikes in flu cases later this season. Nor does it account for the fact that seasonal flu has yet to appear.
Health officials say the urgency remains for people to get vaccinated.
H1N1 vaccine is trickling into Colorado. The state has received 270,000 doses so far, about 30,000 of those for El Paso County. So far the vaccine has been set aside for the most high risk groups such as health care workers, children and pregnant women. El Paso County’s first scheduled public vaccination clinic is Nov. 11 at Coronado High School, 1590 W. Fillmore St. Doses to date have gone to hospitals and health care providers.
