This Season’s Influenza Kills 33 More People In Minnesota

This Season's Influenza Kills 33 More People In Minnesota

This flu season seems to have struck Minnesota quite hard with the Minnesota Department of Health releasing figures that show 33 flu related deaths during just one week.

The total deaths from this year’s influenza are 60 so far, while there are close to 500 people hospitalized.

Health Department officials say that these figures, while high, aren't something people should be scared of, and that rather than being a safety concern the numbers show how mild the past flu seasons were.

With 1842 people having been hospitalized so far, the peak of the influenza season is still nowhere in sight.

Health officials also say that the most exposed age groups to the influenza are people 60 and older. They also report that no person under the age of 18 has died as of yet.

This, however, doesn't mean kids are immune to the virus, with more than 92 schools reporting outbreaks this last week, compared to the 5 schools that reported them the previous week.

With flu outbreaks lasting about five weeks, Minnesota is a little over half that time frame.Officials are certain that the numbers are going to level out in the following weeks and that although the peak might last longer than in other seasons, the month of February should bring about a drastic decrease in influenza numbers.

Posted by George Daniels on Friday January 18 2013, 5:27 AM EDT. Ref: MPR News. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0