As U.S. sees rough flu season, what’s happening in the suburbs?

This flu season has been brutal nationally, and though Illinois is faring better than some of its neighbors, experts say if you still haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, it’s not too late.

At Endeavor Health Edward Hospital in Naperville, it’s been a “very busy flu season,” says Dr. Jonathan Pinsky, medical director of infection control and prevention.

There were 1,345 lab-confirmed influenza cases in the emergency room and in the hospital throughout the entire flu season in 2023-24.

Edward already has eclipsed that total this season — with 1,592 cases to date.

“We’ve seen people of all ages get admitted with influenza,” Pinsky said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there have been at least 37 million illnesses, 480,000 hospitalizations, and 21,000 deaths from flu so far this season. The CDC has classified it as the first “high severity” season since 2017-18.

In Illinois, 18.6% of hospital admissions were for acute respiratory illness — a catchall category that includes flu, COVID-19 and RSV plus other respiratory conditions — the week ending Feb. 22, the Illinois Department of Public Health reports. About 4.9% were attributed to flu — down from 6.8% the week ending Feb. 8, data show.

“It’s definitely been a more aggressive season than in the past … two years at least,” said Dr. Kevin Koo, a family medicine physician at Advocate Health Care in Park Ridge.

‘Really helpful’

The CDC encourages everyone 6 months and older to get an annual flu vaccine, with few exceptions. Vaccination especially is important, the CDC advises, for those at higher risk of serious flu-related complications: people 65 years and older, children younger than 5, pregnant women and people with certain chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease.

The flu shot, Pinsky said, is “really helpful. It’ll prevent the likelihood of having a serious infection.”

After the emergence of COVID-19, “markedly different” seasonal patterns emerged, according to a CDC analysis. The 2021-22 influenza season, for instance, had a late peak in April, and the 2022-23 season peaked earlier than usual in early December. Influenza-related hospitalization rates returned to recent pre-pandemic levels during the 2022-23 season.

“Every winter since then, we’ve had a lot of influenza, so some of it is a little bit of waning immunity when there was no influenza during COVID. Some of it is low vaccination rates. It’s just a mixed bag,” Pinsky said. “And some of it is inherent mutations in the virus, which are completely random.”

The CDC recommends getting an annual flu vaccine ideally by the end of October.

However, if you haven’t yet, “it’s not too late because the flu season does continue into the early spring,” Pinsky said.

Data to date suggest the season has peaked, the CDC noted in a weekly report, but flu-related medical visits, hospitalizations and deaths remain elevated, and the agency expects “several more weeks of flu activity.”

If you get the flu

Koo reminds people to wash their hands regularly and to stay home if they’re sick so that they don’t get coworkers or other individuals sick as well.

“You want to wait until your symptoms have improved, and you haven’t had a fever for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications,” Pinsky said.

“Antiviral medication is most effective if initiated less than 48 hours after your symptoms begin,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said last month.

If a child’s fever doesn’t go down with typical over-the-counter medication, if their appetite has really diminished or if they just seem too fatigued — that’s when a parent should call a provider or, at Advocate, sign up for a virtual appointment, Koo said.

At Edward Hospital, over the 2017-18 season, there were 427 inpatients with lab-confirmed influenza, Pinsky said. This season, the hospital has seen 373 so far.

“I don’t know if we’ve hit the peak,” Pinsky said. “We’ve continued to see flu cases consistently so … we’re still in it.”