PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Health has announced flu is no longer widespread in the state, relieving unvaccinated medical personnel from the requirement of wearing masks during direct patient contact, but the flu season is not over and immunizations are still a good idea if you’ve yet to get yours, the agency reports.
The flu was declared widespread in Rhode Island on Jan. 3. “Widespread” is the highest tier in the five-tier system that RIDOH uses to categorize flu activity in the state. For the week ending April 21, week 16 of flu season, there were 80 total cases of flu reported. Nineteen of them were strain A, one was Flu A H3, five were Flu A H1N1, and 55 were Flu B, according to RIDOH. There have been a cumulative 6,395 identified cases of flu thus far. About 6.5 percent of emergency room visits were attributable to influenza-related illnesses.
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As of April 25, there have been 47 influenza-related deaths in the state.
Nationwide, for the week ending April 21, the proportion of people seeing their health care provider for influenza-like illness decreased from 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent, and is below the national baseline of 2.2 percent for the third consecutive week since late November.
“Although the flu is no longer widespread in Rhode Island, it is still present in the state. Anyone who has not been vaccinated yet should be vaccinated as soon as possible. There is still time to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of RIDOH. “When you get a flu shot, you are not just protecting yourself. You are also protecting the ones you love by preventing the spread of the flu.”
Flu vaccination is recommended for everyone older than 6 months of age. It is especially important for health care workers, pregnant women, senior citizens, young children and people with chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and asthma.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
