Brutal flu season hasn't peaked yet

As many Macon County residents know from experience, the 2017-18 flu season is already one of the worst in recent memory.

The bad news: The virus is showing no signs of slowing down.

Macon County Public Health personal health section administrator Jennifer Garrett updated the board of health on the flu's progression across the county on Tuesday night.

"I wish there were good news, but there's really not," Garrett said. "This year I have seen something from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) that I haven't seen for a while and that is the warning reminding people to be knowledgeable about the ?T-Zone.'"

The T-Zone, as it relates to the spread of disease, refers to a person's two eyes, nose and mouth. The CDC is recommending that citizens who are wary of contracting the flu should wash their hands as often as possible and avoid touching their T-Zones.

Garrett added that anyone with a persistent cough should use their elbow to cover their cough, rather than their hand, to slow the spread of the virus. People who have the flu are generally contagious from one day before symptoms appear to approximately seven days after symptoms begin.

"The CDC tends to think that every flu season is bad, but even they acknowledge that the current season is particularly bad," Garrett said. "It's likely going to be the worst season since 2013-14, and this year's flu virus is especially hard on people under the age of 5 or over the age of 65."

According to the most recent CDC numbers, there have been 42 deaths attributed to the flu in North Carolina during this flu season. Of those, 20 have been pediatric flu deaths.

Board of health member Molly Phillips asked how flu deaths are tracked and the circumstances that surround someone's cause of death being listed as the flu virus.

"The flu death numbers are actually most likely low, because oftentimes if a patient goes to the hospital because of the flu they end up contracting pneumonia and that leads to their death," Macon County Public Health Director Jim Bruckner said. "If the doctor lists the cause of death as pneumonia, that does not count as a flu death, even if that was the reason the person was hospitalized originally."

Garrett noted that despite the flu vaccine being less effective than in previous years, the CDC is still recommending that anyone who has not been vaccinated get the shot. The CDC estimates that the vaccine for the 2017-18 flu season is approximately 30 percent effective at stopping the virus.

Thus far in the season Macon County Public Health has administered more than 1,750 flu shots total, with those being broken down into traditional, high dose and preservative-free varieties based on the patient.

"We have ordered additional vaccines and there is still time to get vaccinated," Garrett said. "This flu season has hit everyone so hard that public health agencies are expecting the season to last a lot longer into the spring than in years past."

Garrett noted that the flu season traditionally starts in early October and lasts until mid-March, but this year the season is expected to last into April with the peak season hitting within the next few weeks.