CINCINNATI — Tri-State hospitals are preparing for a post-holiday surge of flu-like illnesses.
The most recent CDC data classifies Kentucky with a "high" level of influenza-like illnesses. Indiana and Ohio are both in the "very high" category. Health experts expect those levels to go up in the coming weeks.
"Once kids start back in school later on this week, we're definitely going to see an increase in flu as well as other respiratory illnesses, unfortunately," said Dr. Chris Peltier, a pediatrician with Pediatric Associates of Mt. Carmel.
Flu levels peaked about two weeks ago, which is unusually early. Cases have since been trending down.
"Will we have an uptick in cases in January? We probably will," said Dr. Steve Feagins, medical director of Hamilton County Public Health. "To the extent we've seen here recently? Hard to say … if you've seen one flu season, you've seen one flu season."
Ohio has significantly more positive flu tests than Kentucky and Indiana, however, Ohio processes many more tests. Out of all flu tests conducted in the Tri-State this flu season, more than 80% are from Ohio.
"I still think we’re going to see lots of flu in January and February,” Peltier said. "If you haven't gotten your kids vaccinated against influenza, I would definitely consider that."
Feagins said the influenza vaccination rate is lower than usual this year.
"Not sure why, possibly just a little vaccine fatigue," Feagins said. "So, it's never too late to get the flu vaccine, the match so far this year has been good."
Local hospitals are currently at high capacity.
"We are pretty full, especially our emergency departments," said Feagins said. "But that's going to happen during a holiday season because a lot of doctors’ offices or clinics are not necessarily open, so you see more in the emergency department, and we are."
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