Mesa County Public Health has released the 2016-2017 Flu Report detailing data on flu hospitalizations and the economic impacts flu has in Mesa County.
The special report was created using multiple sources of data, taking an all-inclusive look at Mesa County’s latest flu season.
“We’ve been monitoring our flu rates in Mesa County for many years, but this year brought new partnerships with local hospitals, labs and clinics, along with new computer software, changing the way we track flu,” said MCPH Data Analyst Shane Chatfield. “We like to think of this special report as a baseline year, one that we’ll use as a jumping off point as we dive deeper into how flu affects our community.”
Some of the key takeaways from the report include:
- A total of 168 residents were hospitalized during the 2016-2017 flu season, which runs from the first week of October through the first week of June.
- More people were hospitalized during this season than the H1N1 pandemic in 2009-10.
- Most flu deaths and hospitalizations were among people ages 65+.
- Flu hospitalizations and visits to the emergency department/urgent care for influenza-like illness peaked in February of 2017.
- A total of 571 vaccines could be purchased for the average cost of a hospital stay for flu.
Click here to view the report in full.