First flu death of the season reported in Lancaster County

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The first flu death of the season has been reported in Lancaster County.

According to the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, it was a woman in her 40s.

The level of flu activity in the community is very high according to LLCHD, and most flu cases are currently in school-age children 6 to 19 years old.

Cases are also rising in adults 20 to 64 years old.

“Flu is a highly infectious disease of the lungs and it can be a life-threatening illness for some people,” said Tim Timmons, Communicable Disease Program Supervisor with LLCHD. “Vaccination is our best protection against the flu and it’s recommended that everyone 6 months and older receive a flu vaccine every year.”

The Lancaster County weekly positivity rate for influenza is 31.4 percent an increase from 29.3 percent.

CDC estimates that, so far this season, there have been at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations, and 4,500 deaths from flu.

Flu symptoms may include fever or feeling feverish, chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, and fatigue. Getting vaccinated against the flu helps reduce illnesses, visits to the doctor, missed work and school and flu-related hospitalizations and deaths.

Flu vaccine is widely available in the community. The public can contact a health care provider or find a flu vaccine location at vaccines.gov. LLCHD will provide free flu vaccinations to uninsured and underinsured adults. Children age 6 months through 18 years are also eligible and must meet one or more of these criteria:

Have Medicaid coverage
Uninsured
American Indian and/or Alaskan Native
Underinsured

For more information, call 402-441-8065 or visit health.lincoln.ne.gov (select “Vaccine Clinic” under “Community Health Services”).

Below is additional flu data provided by Lancaster County:

Seven hundred and forty lab-confirmed cases of influenza A (32 H3, 8 H1 2009 Pan, 700 not sub-typed) and two confirmed influenza B cases have been reported in Lancaster County.

The percent of confirmed influenza A cases by age range:

25 percent are 0-5 years

23 percent are 6-13 years

11 percent are 14 to 19 years

12 percent are 20 to 29 years

21 percent are 30 to 64 years

8 percent are 65 years and older

Five hundred fifty-one positive RIDT(rapid influenza diagnostic test) lab tests (537 Influenza A and 14 Influenza B) have been reported in Lancaster County.

There has been one adult flu death in Lancaster County. No pediatric flu deaths have been reported in Lancaster County.

The Lancaster County weekly positivity rate for influenza is 31.4 percent an increase from 29.3 percent. The cumulative influenza lab positivity rate is 15.1 percent an increase from 11.9 percent the previous week.

Weekly Lancaster County flu graphs: weeklyflugraphs.pdf (ne.gov)

The percent of provider visits for ILI was 8.8 percent for the week ending December 3, 2022, an increase from 8.4 percent the previous week. Half of all patient visits for ILI were in patients 5-24 years of age.

The percent of local hospital admissions for ILI was 12.6 percent for the week ending December 3, 2022, an increase from 11.6 percent the previous week.

Flu activity in Lancaster County schools is high. Flu activity had been elevated before the Thanksgiving break and climbed higher after the break with the week ending December 3rd.

RSV cases continues to decline. The weekly positive RSV lab reports have decline each of the past four weeks.

Local lab RSV positivity rate was 7.3 percent (42/572 tests) for the week ending December 10th, a decrease from 9.1 percent (63/690 tests) the previous week.