DPH: Coronavirus deaths eclipsing flu deaths in Conn.
The number of COVID-19 deaths in the state is on track to sail past the number of flu deaths this season in Connecticut.
On Thursday, the state Department of Public Health released its weekly flu report which states that, last week, five people died of flu-associated deaths, bringing the state’s seasonal total to 77. As of Thursday afternoon, at least 123 people had died of COVID-19 in the state, according to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Though the flu report only includes the number of deaths through Saturday, the number of COVID-19 deaths has been rising at a much faster rate than flu deaths. The state reported its first COVID-19 death on March 18. Days before then, on March 14, there had already been a total of 70 flu-associated deaths in Connecticut.
The first flu-associated deaths this season took place the week ending Nov. 9, when there were two.
Last week, there were also 37 people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, bringing the total for the season to 2,971. The state did report that the percentage of people going to outpatient clinics with flu-like symptoms had gone down from the previous week, but
the percentage of people sent to hospital emergency departments had gone up.
The state report said the spike in emergency room visits is likely tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, as “more people may be seeking care for respiratory illness than usual at this time.”
COVID-19 and flu have some of the same symptoms, including a fever and a cough, and both are illnesses of the respiratory tract.
To date this season, 12,714 people in Connecticut have tested positive for the flu. Even as COVID-19 spreads across the state, the flu is still classified as widespread in Connecticut.
Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that, so far this season there have been at least 39 million flu illnesses, 400,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths from flu.