According to the Bear River Health Department, Cache County is following a national trend towards higher infection rates of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus and a decrease in COVID-19.
Angie White, a disease investigator with the BRHD, said there were 718 total reported cases of influenza during last flu season, which ran from October 2021 to May of this year. This season, there have already been 425 cases.
White specified the numbers are not an indicator of the total amount of flu cases, just those reported.
“Numbers can sometimes be hard because we only get what’s reported to us,” she said. “It’s usually just the hospitals that are reporting these respiratory viruses.”
The number of cases of Respiratory Syncytial Virus — commonly referred to as RSV — has also spiked nationally and locally.
BRHD Epidemiologist Tanesha Stoker said about 530 cases have been reported already this season. The total amount reported last season was around 1,200.
While RSV and influenza appear to be spreading at a higher rate than last year, Stoker explained the amount of severe COVID-19 cases is moving in the other direction.
“One of the better ways to look at COVID and the spread is hospitalizations and deaths,” Stoker said. “This year we are seeing it’s trending downward compared to what it was last year at this time.”
Estee Hunt, BRHD’s public information officer, said people should stay home if they are sick.
“We’re not trying to tell people to not gather, we just want people to gather smartly when you’re not sick,” she said. “That would be our biggest advice from public health, and of course to stay up on your vaccines.”
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