NEW YORK (WABC) — Flu cases are climbing ahead of holiday gatherings and some schools in the area have been forced to get creative to avoid the spread.
Students are back at Poly Prep’s campus in Dyker Heights after the private school shut down for two days due to one-third of the 900 students in the upper and middle schools being sick with flu-like symptoms.
The problem is even more of a concern at hospitals.
New numbers from the New York State Department of Health cited nearly 1,400 flu hospitalizations statewide this week.
That’s a 75% increase from the nearly 800 hospitalizations that were reported last week.
“Our current numbers are over 150 patients in the hospital with flu as of Sunday,” Dr. Sharon Nachman of Stony Brook Children’s Hospital said.
The fast and furious mutated strain of the flu this season is evading immune systems and making the trajectory faster.
Is it too late to get vaccinated? Dr. Bruce Farber of the Northwell Division of Infectious Diseases says no.
“No. It’s never too late to get vaccinated. This virus will be with us even if it starts going down through at least the end of March,” Farber said.
While the vaccine this year is not a perfect match for the new strain, the experts stress that it is the best defense.
“It may not prevent you from getting the flu, but it has shown good efficacy in preventing you from being hospitalized, preventing you from dying,” Farber said.
“Every year, there are children that die of flu. About half of them have underlying conditions. But half don’t. The common thread though is they’re not vaccinated,” Dr. Nachman said.
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