A bottle of influenza vaccine at a CVS pharmacy and MinuteClinic on September 10, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Alabama’s state health officer, Dr. Scott Harris, says flu activity has significantly increased statewide over the past month. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Alabama’s state health officer said Thursday that the state Department of Public Health has seen a significant increase in flu activity in Alabama over the last month.
Dr. Scott Harris told members of the department’s governing board meeting that “influenza is everywhere right now.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Alabama’s influenza-like illness (ILI) activity, which is the percentage of patients presenting with influenza-like illnesses (ILI), such as fever and body aches, is rated “very high” and only one level below the highest level for the week ending on January 4. That is a significant increase from December when the state reported “widespread” flu activity with an ILI of 3.39% across the state, though the spike follows a similar pattern the previous year.
“Our ILI, or influenza-like activity that we measure with our surveillance, is at about 6%, which is about twice, you know, the baseline number 3%, and we kind of use it threshold for flu season,” Scott said.
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Harris said that while there are lab-confirmed cases throughout the state, much of the ILI activity is currently concentrated in the central-eastern part of the state, affecting counties like Montgomery, Macon and Lee.
Much of the increased flu activity is spread nationwide but concentrated in the Southeast and West. Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas and New York have similar ILI activity as Alabama, with only Tennessee, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oregon having higher ILI levels than Alabama.
Alabama and other southeastern states faced similar levels around the same time last year, with Alabama and Georgia reporting “very high” levels and Louisiana, Tennessee and South Carolina reporting the highest level.
Harris said there is still time to get the flu vaccine.
About 39.3% of adults in Alabama received a flu vaccine as of the week ending on January 4, compared to 43.2% nationwide. While lower than the national average, more adults are getting a flu vaccine this year, compared to 37.4% during the same time last year.
Children’s flu vaccination follows similar trends, with 39.5% of children in Alabama having received a flu vaccine as of January 4, significantly lower than the national rate of 48.1%. More children are also getting vaccinated this year in Alabama, compared to 36.5% for the same week the previous year.
“Flu is still here. No, it’s not too late to get a flu shot, so please consider that,” he said.
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