Lower than normal flu numbers continue

Connecticut isn’t alone in its low flu numbers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported for several weeks that flu activity has been lower than normal nationwide.

Though flu cases in Connecticut remain unusually low this season, there was one new flu-related hospitalization last week and two more people tested positive for the illness.

On Thursday, the Department of Public Health released its weekly flu report which showed that, as of Jan. 16, a total of 36 people in Connecticut had tested positive for the flu, up from 34 the previous week. There was one new hospitalization, bringing the total to 12 so far for the season. There were no new flu-associated deaths and only one so far this season.

Flu numbers have been lower than normal all season. For instance, as of Jan. 18 last year, there had been a total of 784 people hospitalized with the flu, 20 flu-associated deaths and 3,759 people who had tested positive for the flu.

Overall, flu activity in the state was categorized as “sporadic,” meaning a small number of laboratory-confirmed flu cases or a single laboratory-confirmed outbreak has been reported, but there is no increase in cases of influenza-like illness.

Connecticut isn’t alone in its low flu numbers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported for several weeks that flu activity has been lower than normal nationwide.

As flu season approached, health experts feared a potential “twindemic” in which a second wave of COVID-19 collided with a heavy flu season. Though COVID cases did spike again in winter, the flu season was less robust than feared.

Some experts theorized that the measures taken to help prevent COVID-19 — including wearing masks, social distancing and constant hand-washing — were having an affect on flu numbers.