Flu activity remains low across Indiana in the 16th week of statewide surveillance. Indiana State Department of Health graphic
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Weekly flu surveillance reports from this year and previous years can be found on the Indiana State Department of Health website at in.gov/isdh/22104.htm.
INDIANAPOLIS — Flu still hasn’t taken root in Indiana as weekly surveillance reports across the state continue to show minimal impact from the seasonal virus.
While Indiana has seen COVID-19 cases drop off over the last few weeks, flu continues to be a non-issue for the state so far this winter.
The Indiana State Department of Health rated flu spread as “minimal” again for the week ended Jan. 22, with 411 reports of “influenza-like illness” at reporting sites across the state. That brings the total incidents of flu-like illness at 9,280 so far in the 2020-21 season.
There have been three deaths attributed to flu this year, with no new deaths reported this past week.
Flu numbers continue to run well below what’s typical for this time of year and have remained mostly flat across the first three months of surveillance.
State health officials have noted that interventions being taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 such as masking, social distancing and staying home when one’s ill are also likely to have beneficial impacts in reducing the spread of influenza.
The state reported that 0.92% of visits at outpatient facilities were for influenza-like illness on the week. Rates have been holding around 1% for the last month.
That rate is below what’s been typical during flu season for the past four years. Flu sat at about 2% in 2016-17 and was around 3% in 2018-19 and 2019-20 at this time of year. In 2017-18, the worst flu season in recent history, that percentage was over 7%.
Flu reports at emergency rooms and urgent care clinics sit at 0.91% on the week, about the same as its been. That’s a little lower than about 1.5% in 2016-17, but rates were higher ranging from 2-5% in other years.
Flu activity typically starts to rise in December and then runs higher throughout the winter months in January and February and sometimes into March. That hasn’t happened this year, however, as flu activity has remained essentially flat since surveillance started in October.
The state has not identified any particular strains of flu through testing at the Indiana State Department of Health lab yet this year, although specimen testing numbers are lower than in previous years as the state has been primarily focused on fighting COVID-19 this season.
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