This year’s flu outbreak has been responsible for more deaths and hospitalizations in Rhode Island than any influenza virus within the past 10 years. Rhode Island recorded 90 cases of the flu during last year’s season but has reported 458 cases as of Jan. 17, said Dara Chadwick, chief officer of health promotion for the state Department of Health.
The significant increase in hospitalizations for confirmed cases of flu between this year and last year has led the Department of Health to strongly encourage everyone to be vaccinated, particularly those who are 18-49 years old, Chadwick said.
Director of Health Michael Fine signed a declaration of widespread flu incidence Dec. 5 requiring all healthcare workers who had not been vaccinated to wear face masks when treating patients.
Momotazur Rahman, investigator in health services policy and practices said Rhode Island is particularly prone to the flu due to its proximity to Boston. “We have lots of commuters that go to Boston for work, and it is very likely that it will come to Providence very soon,” Rahman said.
Boston, which has already suffered 18 flu-related deaths, has declared a public health emergency, the Providence Journal reported Jan. 9. Rahman added that Providence is more likely to be affected than any suburb of Boston because of its high population density.
Fewer reported cases of flu in Boston over the past two weeks might signal that the outbreak is beginning to ebb — though only slightly as many remain sick, the Boston Globe reported Jan. 18. The apparent decrease in reported cases on the East Coast is matched by an increase on the West Coast, the Globe reported.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report in January detailing widespread outbreaks of the flu in 47 states. The national total number of deaths also qualified this year’s flu season as an “epidemic,” the New York Times reported Jan. 11.
The state is seeing an increase in demand for the vaccine in response to the outbreak, but is “not getting calls from pharmacies saying we are completely out (of the vaccine),” Chadwick told the Journal Jan. 15.
This is the first flu season following the passage of a law in October of last year — the first of its kind in the nation — that mandates all health workers be vaccinated during flu season. SEIU Healthcare Employees District 1199 filed a lawsuit opposing the new law in December, claiming that the Department of Health “violates workers’ due process rights,” and that “no valid medical evidence shows vaccinating employees against the flu protects the health of patients,” the American Medical News reported Jan. 14. The lawsuit is still underway, and the Department of Health is standing by its policy on the grounds that requiring health workers to be vaccinated is an appropriate measure to prevent the spread of the influenza virus.
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