PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — According to Washington officials, the state recorded 10 times more flu deaths during the 2022-2023 flu season than it did the previous year.
On Thursday morning, the Washington State Department of Health reported that 262 residents died from influenza — including five children. Following the 2021-2022 flu season, that number stood at just 26 flu deaths at large.
Washington saw a spike in flu activity at the end of October, and reached its peak by the end of November. By the end of April, the state reported minimal flu activity. Overall, WSDOH says the most recent flu season was the deadliest it’d seen in five years.
Across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects that there were as many as 640,000 flu hospitalizations and 57,000 flu deaths between October 1, 2022 and April 29 of this year.
While the CDC reports that the flu vaccine lowered the chances of flu-type-A-related hospitalizations by almost 75% for children and almost 50% for adults, Washington officials revealed that vaccinations rates have lagged for some groups.
In particular, the health department says 6% less children and 15% less pregnant people received the flu shot compared to pre-pandemic levels.
In November 2022, TIME magazine also correlated the increase in flu cases to the decrease in mask use.
“While respiratory illness precautions such as masking and social distancing helped keep the number of flu cases low during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s especially important now that most of us are around other people again to get a flu vaccine every year,” WSDOH Secretary of Health Umair Shah said.
Shah added that if someone were to contract influenza after receiving the vaccine, the shot would likely diminish their symptoms as well as their chances of being hospitalized.