As influenza cases continue to rise statewide, a Bassett Healthcare Network doctor is urging people to get vaccinated.
The state Department of Health announced Friday, Dec. 26 that the 71,123 flu cases reported in the week ending Saturday, Dec. 20 marked the highest number of flu cases ever recorded in a week since 2004, when the flu was made reportable. This represents a 38% spike from the week prior, according to the DOH website.
As of Friday, there were 189,312 flu cases reported statewide throughout this season. Flu-related hospitalizations reached 3,666 in New York, up 63% from 2,251 in the previous week.
Dr. Benjamin Friedell, a board certified family doctor in Oneonta and Bassett’s regional chief of primary care for the Oneonta area, said while he could not provide exact local numbers, this season he has seen “more cases than we are used to.” Friedell, who serves as the medical director of the A.O. Fox Nursing Home, said the flu spread throughout the facility too this season.
Almost everybody at the nursing home was vaccinated, he added, but almost every resident was treated with either the therapeutic dose of Tamiflu or the preventative dose due to the spread throughout the facility.
“Fortunately we get everybody immunized during the early September and October so the impact is not as bad as it could be,” Friedell said.
He added that very few people in the nursing home are not vaccinated, but those who are not tend to get sicker, and those who are experience a milder case of the flu.
Symptoms remain similar this year to that of past years, Friedell said, but he added that he has noticed more people declining to receive a flu vaccine, or rather any vaccines. At his practice, he said he has seen fewer people choosing to get immunized to the flu. His primary office is in Oneonta Family Practice in the FoxCare Center.
“These are people who often were getting a flu vaccine every year beforehand,” Friedell said. “I believe this is a consequence of the controversy or the misinformation around the COVID vaccine. I think some people have extended that reluctance to get the COVID vaccine to any vaccine, including the flu vaccine. That may be contributing to why we are seeing more cases.”
Friedell said those with the flu should limit contact with other people until fever is gone and they are feeling better. If they are going anywhere with people with any flu symptoms, they should opt to wear a mask, he added.
Just with most viral illnesses, people are most infectious at the beginning, even if they do not feel the most sick. The amount of virus shed goes down daily. Friedell said the risk of spreading is significantly less after several days, even if someone is still somewhat symptomatic.
“Still, you should be doing good hand hygiene, wearing a mask and staying away from anybody who is particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases,” Friedell said.
If somebody can get in to see a practitioner within 72 hours of the onset of their symptoms and test positive, they would often be treated with Tamiflu.
When someone in a household comes down with the flu and there is an immunocompromised or elderly person living with them who is not yet symptomatic, that person potentially could take a preventative dose of Tamiflu, Friedell said.
Intensity of the flu and nature and length of symptoms, Friedell said, are about the same they have been historically. The major change this season is the increase in flu cases.
In the event that somebody is having trouble breathing, has a fever persisting for significantly more than two or three days or is having difficulty keeping liquids down, posing dehydration risks, they should consider going to the hospital, Friedell said.
“If anything, I would err on the side of getting treated, either in your doctor’s office or in the emergency room and then being sent home, as opposed to waiting until you are sicker and sicker, and then it is much, much harder to treat you,” Friedell said.
Immunocompromised or elderly individuals especially can die from the disease, he added, so it is best to get checked early if some of these symptoms are persistent.
Wearing a mask and washing hands is essential at this time of year, especially at large gatherings, Friedell said.
The biggest thing somebody can do to protect themselves from the flu this season, Friedell said, is get vaccinated.
“It is never too late to get vaccinated, even now, as we are going into January,” Friedell said. “It is not too late to get vaccinated if you haven’t been.”