Thursday, January 24, 2013
Department of Health says there were an additional 15 deaths last week, but that number of people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms has fallen dramatically.
Influenza killed 15 more Minnesotans last week, bringing the total number of state deaths in the current outbreak to 75--more than the total number of state residents killed during the last big outbreak during 2009-10. But the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) weekly flu update, released Thursday afternoon, also contained good news: Only 208 people across the state were newly hospitalized last week with laboratory-confirmed influenza, a big drop from the 476 hospitalized the previous week. Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz told WCCO that it will be another week before officials know for sure where the flu season has peaked in Minnesota. But he added that trends are pointing in that direction. For example, there were only nine …
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Minnesota Department of Health’s latest flu information was released this week.
By now, Minnesotans are well aware of the obvious: this year’s flu has been brutal. According to Minnesota Department of Health data, 1,842 people have been hospitalized and 60 people have died in the state since the flu outbreak began. On the Golden Valley, Maple Grove and Plymouth-MN Patch Facebook pages, users shared comments about how the flu has, or has not, been impacting their households. Heidi Engels Bjugstad - Got my flu shot, but still came down with the flu at the end of November. It was miserable. Cory Peterson - Not getting a flu shot seems silly. Why take the risk? Abby Jimenez - Family of five. Three of us got it. My six year old had a temp of 104.5. And she had a flu shot. Danielle Joseph - I was diagnosed with Influenza A…
Thursday, January 10, 2013
More than 1,100 hospitalized; Minnesota Department of Health urges precautions.
This flu season is proving brutal in Minnesota, with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) now reporting 27 deaths in the state, including 23 that officials have been able to confirm as flu-related since Dec. 30. Since the start of the influenza season, 1,121 people have been hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza, according to the MDH reports for the 2012–2013 season. That number includes 401 hospitalizations for the week ending Jan. 5. North Memorial, which has a family clinic in Golden Valley, implemented "expanded visitor restrictions" on Jan. 9. According to a statement on their website: MDH officials say the number of those hospitalized throughout the state rivals those seen during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, but that …
