Flu season is likely near its peak in Fort Worth area, Tarrant County Public Health says
Cases and outbreaks of the flu have significantly increased in Tarrant County in the last two weeks, indicating that the county is likely near the peak of influenza season, the county health department said Feb. 3.
More than one in every four emergency room visits in the week of Jan. 26 were for influenza-like illness, higher than the same time last year, when ER visits for flu peaked at 21%, according to TCPH’s respiratory virus dashboard.
The flu has been hitting school-age children hard. Of all Tarrant County residents going to the ER with the flu, two out of every three were children 17 years old and younger. During the week of Jan. 19, more than 15% of students absences were because of kids sick with the flu, according to TCPH.
So far this flu season, there have been 46 flu outbreaks, with the majority of those outbreaks — 41 — in schools, according to a news release from Tarrant County Public Health. A flu outbreak in schools is declared whenever there are five or more cases of flu in a single day among a linked group of students or staff, or when the number of students absent because of flu reaches 2% of the enrollment, according to TCPH spokesperson Kennedy Sam. The Godley school district closed all campuses for three days last week because so many students and staff were home sick with the flu.
To stay healthy, TCPH recommends getting the annual flu shot, practicing good hand hygiene, and staying home sick, among other steps.
