Severe flu season strains hospitals, schools, care facilities across the region

A severe and fast-moving flu season is straining health care systems on both sides of the state line, with Connecticut and New York reporting “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity.

Hospitals, schools and clinics are seeing a surge in influenza cases—a trend now being felt acutely across the Northwest Corner.

“The statistics suggest it’s the worst flu season in 30 years,” said Dr. Mark Marshall, an internist at Sharon Hospital.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respiratory illness activity is currently classified as “very high” in both Connecticut and New York. Emergency department visits for influenza are very high and increasing, the agency reported, while COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity remain at low levels but are also trending upward.

Health officials say the holiday season created prime conditions for the virus to spread, as people gathered indoors in close quarters and traveled more frequently, increasing exposure and transmission.

Hospitals, schools, nursing homes and primary care providers across the Northwest Corner are also reporting unusually high flu volumes.

Dr. Sarah Humphreys, chief medical officer at Community Health and Wellness Center in North Canaan, said influenza has dominated patient visits since the holidays.

“We’re seeing a ton of influenza. People are coming in with body aches, fever, congestion and gastrointestinal issues,” Humphreys said.

She noted that clinicians are also seeing many infected children, particularly those connected to boarding schools. One private school in the region, she said, shut down prior to winter break after reporting more than 100 flu cases. “At boarding schools it spreads like wildfire.”

Sharon Hospital sees worst flu season in decades

At Sharon Hospital, emergency department physicians are reporting a sharp increase in influenza cases, with more patients requiring hospitalizations than in a typical winter.

Between Dec. 1 through Dec. 9, “Our emergency department saw 100 patients who tested positive for influenza A,” said Marshall. Of those patients, he said, 11 required hospitalizations.

The Sharon Hospital physician said clinicians have seen an uptick in flu cases since the COVID-19 pandemic eased, which he attributed in part to people becoming less vigilant about preventive measures such as staying home when sick, masking when appropriate and hand hygiene.

He also noted that a mutated strain of influenza A, H3N2 subclade K, which is associated with more severe illness, particularly among older adults and individuals with preexisting health issues, is contributing to higher hospitalization rates.

New York confirms regional surge

That local experience mirrors what health officials are reporting across New York.

The New York State Department of Health announced Jan. 2 that the state recorded the highest number of flu-related hospitalizations ever reported in a single week.

“We are having a more severe flu season than prior years,” State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement. “Almost 12,000 more people were admitted to a hospital during this most recent seven-day period compared to the prior week.”

The department’s most recent data shows a total of 4,546 flu-related hospitalizations statewide, nearly 1,000 more than the previous week.

Marshall said the impacts of the flu season extend beyond Sharon Hospital and the Northwest Corner, with mounting pressure within the broader Nuvance/Northwell health network, underscoring the pace at which the virus continues to spread.

He described what clinicians refer to as “surging,” a rapid influx of patients arriving with respiratory illness, many of whom require hospitalization, which leads to backups as patients wait in emergency departments for inpatient beds.

“We’re seeing a little of that in Sharon, but at Vassar, they are seeing severe surging,” Marshall said, referring to Vassar Brothers Medical Center, a 349-bed, acute care hospital in Poughkeepsie.

Primary care clinics report heavy flu volume

The North Canaan Community Health and Wellness Center has been inundated with flu-infected children in recent weeks, and officials advise families to isolate sick children from older adults and others most at risk for serious illness.

The facility’s chief medical officer emphasized that clinicians continue to recommend the seasonal flu vaccine, despite misinformation suggesting this year’s vaccine is ineffective because it was distributed before the emergence of the H2N3 strain.

“The flu vaccine will decrease the severity of the illness. Unfortunately, it has not stopped spreading,” said Humphreys, who also advised people to protect themselves by wearing a mask in waiting rooms or while moving through health care facilities where the virus may be airborne.

Schools see absenteeism rise

Public and private schools across the region have also been affected by this year’s brutal flu season, particularly in the weeks leading up to the holiday break.

On Dec. 19, the last day before winter break “about 12 percent of the high school’s population, 39 students, were absent,” Nichols noted. Teachers, too, caught the flu, with about 36 staff members falling ill prior to the break.

However, once students returned to class after break, flu cases declined.

“When you don’t have 200 to 300 kids in the same space, you lessen the transmission,” said School Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if in the next couple of weeks to 10 days, between COVID, RSV and Flu, that the numbers go up.”

Brady-Shanley stressed the importance of keeping children home when sick until they are fever-free, and reinforced basic hygiene.

“If you can get kids to wash their hands three to four times per day, they are less likely to get sick.”