Flu wave, which hit schools hard following holiday break, may have peaked

Respiratory illnesses hit Minnesota schools hard following the holiday break, with 94 missing 10% or more of their students in the week ending Jan. 18 because of influenza, COVID-19 or other seasonal infections.

Thursday’s state updates on influenza and COVID-19 nonetheless showed signs of a peak in the wave of illnesses that has overwhelmed hospitals and their emergency rooms since Christmas.

Influenza-related hospitalizations dropped from 877 in the week ending Jan. 4 to 629 last week, although that total remained higher than in any week in the prior four flu seasons. North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale was among the hospitals still feeling the pressure, reporting a 10-hour wait at its emergency department Thursday morning that had only dropped to 5 hours by noon.

Minnesota had only reported 40 school outbreaks this flu season, until 94 were reported last week. The state also reported 13 influenza outbreaks in long-term care facilities last week and another three related to RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus.

RSV normally hits children hardest but has been harsher than usual on adults this winter and contributed to hospital crowding along with a surge of stomach illnesses related to norovirus.

Minnesota also has been reporting 40 to 60 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day since the Christmas holiday, when family and friend gatherings likely helped fuel the spread of the infectious disease. Wastewater sampling has found declining levels over the past two weeks of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, though, so hospitalizations may soon decline as well.

No children have died from influenza, despite the recent surge of school outbreaks. The state has reported 79 flu-related deaths so far this season, and a median age of 80 for those who died.