Flu hospitalizations break NYS record

This flu season continues to break records as the state Health Department reported Friday it had recorded the highest number of hospitalizations in one week since data collection started more than 20 years ago.

But reported flu cases dropped this week from a previous high of 72,133 — the most cases since at least 2004 — to 49,153. Lab-confirmed flu cases only represent a portion of all flu cases, however, so experts were wary of saying the season has already hit its peak.

There were 4,546 flu hospitalizations for the week ending Dec. 27, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week, officials said.

On Long Island, flu hospitalizations for the week ending Dec. 27 climbed to 800 from 636 the week before.

The state also reported an influenza-associated pediatric death on Friday, the third this season.

"We are having a more severe flu season than prior years," state Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement, adding it isn’t too late for people to get their seasonal flu shots.

Across the United States this season, there have been about 7.5 million illnesses, 81,000 hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths from the flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.

Dr. Payal Sud, associate chair of emergency medicine at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, said she is seeing an influx of flu patients — and most of them have not been vaccinated.

"What we’re seeing is that people who have the flu are a lot sicker this year," she said. "I really think this is because a lot of patients that we're seeing, especially the ones that we end up admitting to the hospital, have not taken the flu shot. Not having the flu shot increases the risk of serious flu."

Infectious disease experts said several factors led to this year being a more active flu season: a new variant of the influenza A strain H3N2, known as subclade K, emerged after the flu vaccine was formulated, making it less effective against the viral newcomer, and fewer people have been getting their annual flu shots in recent years. 

State data shows about 24.2% of eligible New Yorkers received their flu shot so far this season, including 24.6% in Nassau County and 20.4% in Suffolk County.

"The flu shot may not prevent you from getting the flu but it will prevent you from getting serious consequences of the flu," Sud said. "We are seeing patients that are very young, very old, immunocompromised or with underlying medical conditions like asthma. Young patients have asthma or diabetes, people undergoing cancer treatment, anyone who’s pregnant ... all of these patients we're seeing are really impacted by the flu and then they require hospitalization."

It's a similar scene at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside where older flu patients with comorbidities like heart disease or lung disease are a growing concern, said Dr. Jay Itzkowitz, chair of the department of emergency medicine

"We're seeing the gamut — infants, school-age kids," he said. "Most of those patients are not that bad, but as they get older with multiple comorbidities, they're actually a lot sicker than we expected."

While some of the hospitalized flu patients were vaccinated, Itzkowitz said those with more serious illnesses such as infections and pneumonias were not vaccinated.

Getting flu once doesn't mean you won't get sick again this winter, said Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children's Hospital.

"It's important to remind people that flu circulating right now is more than one flu variant," Nachman said. "So you may have H3N2 now but there is some H3N1 floating around and some flu B, so you might get sick again and think you never got over the flu when actually you just got a different variant."

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.