Flu activity continues to increase across Iowa, resulting in rising school absences and emergency room visits, as the country is in the midst of a surge in flu cases.
Hospital emergency rooms across the state reported that more than 10% of visits last week were due to the flu, according to the latest weekly respiratory virus surveillance report by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. It's a significant increase from this time last year, when flu ER visits were around 4%.
Officials also say 174 schools statewide reported absence rates of at least 10% due to illness last week — a 25% increase from 139 schools that reported the week prior.
UnityPoint hospitals in Des Moines have started requiring ER staff to wear masks with all patients at all times, according to Clint Hawthorne, the medical director for UnityPoint emergency departments in Des Moines.
"Even if a patient doesn't have respiratory symptoms — they are there for their sprained ankle, for example — we are having staff wear masks into those rooms," he said.
As ERs continue to see more respiratory virus patients, Hawthorne recommends those who are younger and healthier and looking for some relief from their symptoms consider visiting an urgent care clinic or making a telehealth appointment.
"Grandma, who's weak and has shorter breath and is a lot higher risk, is the patient that is going to be better served in an ER environment," he said. "The patients who are otherwise young and healthy and have mild or even moderate symptoms — and that includes fevers, cough, body aches, headache — those are the patients who can successfully treat themselves through those other mechanisms."
University of Iowa Health Care says it has also been taking extra precautions for several weeks with a focus on their most vulnerable patients.
"We institute masking for the highly vulnerable populations, which for us is our Stead Family Children's Hospital and some highly immunocompromised units," said Karen Brust, hospital epidemiologist at UI Health Care. "That's been at play now for a few weeks, and so we got ahead of this peak in [respiratory virus] season."
Health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot
One way Iowans can avoid getting severely ill from the flu is to get the flu shot, particularly if they're part of a vulnerable population, on top of taking other precautions like staying home when sick and being diligent about washing their hands, Brust said.
"The flu vaccine is actually well-paired to the flu that we're seeing circulating right now,."Karen Brust, hospital epidemiologist at UI Health Care
"The flu vaccine is actually well-paired to the flu that we're seeing circulating right now," she said.
According to state data, 31% of Iowans have received the flu shot so far this year. That's still below last season's total of 34%, which was a milder season for the flu.
State data show flu vaccination rates have been overall trending downwards since 2019. But as cases of influenza A spike across the state, other infections from COVID-19, RSV and influenza B remain relatively low, state data shows.
Brust said getting the flu shot could also protect against influenza B, and Iowans still have time to build immunity from the shot as respiratory virus season season will likely continue for awhile.
"We still haven't seen a lot of influenza B. We still haven't seen the numbers coming down from the peak, so we still have a lot of the season ahead of us," she said.
