10 flu-related deaths at long-term-care homes
There have been more than 10 flu-related deaths in the Windsor region so far this year in what is being called the worst flu season in 20 years.
There were 10 deaths from flu outbreaks in long-term care homes, which is what the local health unit tracks and reports to the Ministry of Health and LongTerm Care.
It’s not a total count of flu-related deaths in the community. Windsor Regional Hospital president and CEO David Musyj said there have been less than three flu-related deaths at the hospital that he knows of and none of them involved pediatric patients.
Still the 10 flu-related deaths at long-term care homes so far are more than last year’s total of six deaths, said Lora Piccinin, manager of infectious disease prevention with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. “It’s not too late to get the flu shot,” she said Tuesday.
The flu season usually runs until the end of March or early April and often there is a second spike of cases in March, she said.
All the flu-related statistics are higher this year, Piccinin said.
“Last year, we had seven outbreaks in the entire flu season and right now we’re up to 26,” she said of the 65 long-term care facilities the health unit tracks.
And that’s only the flu outbreaks, not other respiratory viruses or norovirus.
There were 160 lab-confirmed cases of influenza from hospitals or an outbreak last flu season and the region is already at 205 confirmed cases this year, she said. The lab doesn’t confirm cases from doctor’s offices.
Musyj, who was at home with the flu on Tuesday, said the flu is worse than 2009 and the worst season in 20 years.
“The peak of the influenza season usually hits a peak after the eight or nine weeks traditionally and then it takes about eight or nine weeks for it to decline. What we’re seeing now is it hit a peak after eight or nine weeks but it’s staying at that peak level for an extended period of time,” Musyj said. “It has not started to do the decline yet.”
In some positive news, two flu outbreaks at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette campus are over and the hospital has managed to have fewer people admitted and waiting for a bed than last year.
The Ouellette campus was at 101 per cent capacity Tuesday with six people admitted and waiting for beds. The Met campus was at 97 per cent capacity with three patients admitted and awaiting beds. Musyj said the average last year was 15 people admitted and waiting for a bed a day instead of three or four.
The hospital has postponed 29 surgeries but most of them have been rescheduled or completed, he said.