State: Only 3 people tested positive for flu last week

There were only three new flu cases in the state last week, bringing the total for this unusually mild flu season to 116 cases thus far.

According to the latest numbers from the state Department of Public Health, as of April 3, 116 people had tested posted for flu, up from 113 the week before. There were no new deaths or hospitalizations because of the flu.

“Statewide influenza activity continues to be low,” DPH stated on its web site.

There was a small bump in the percentage of outpatient visits attributed to the flu — .61 percent up from .59 percent the previous week. There have been a total of 13 hospitalizations and one death so far this season.

Flu season typically runs from October to May, but this year has been unusually quiet, and experts have largely attributed this to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the measures used to protect people from COVID-19, including wearing masks and social distancing, can also help protect against other illnesses, including flu.

By comparison, last year, as of March 28, 12,714 people in the state had tested positive for the flu and there had been 2,971 flu-associated hospitalizations and 77 fluassociated deaths.

For the bulk of this season, flu activity has been classified 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 is not the only state facing a milderthan-normal flu season. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 0.1 percent of respiratory specimens submitted to clinical laboratories nationwide tested positive for the flu in the week ending April 3.

The number of specimens submitted to public health laboratories testing positive for flu nationwide that week was also low, the CDC reported.