Clark County is pretty sick, and not in the way that cool kids use that word.
In addition to having a public health emergency due to a measles outbreak with 49 confirmed cases, the county also experienced its highest rate of influenza test positivity last week so far this flu season. For Jan. 27 through Feb. 2, also referred to as Week Five, Clark County flu positivity rose to 17.7 percent.
That is the second straight week Clark County exceeded the 10 percent active flu season threshold, and thrusts the county officially into active flu season by Clark County Public Health’s standards.
This is the latest Clark County has entered active flu season since 2016. That year, Clark County didn’t enter active flu season until the end of January, and stayed above the 10 percent threshold until spring. At last month’s Clark County Board of Health meeting, Clark County Public Health Director Dr. Alan Melnick mentioned how the measles outbreak can make regular Public Health duties more challenging.
“This is another issue around foundational public health services,” Melnick said at the meeting in late January. “All our staff in incident command are working on measles, (but) the other communicable diseases don’t suddenly stop. It’s really been challenging making sure that the we deal with the other communicable diseases that are coming in.”
Cowlitz County influenza positivity was at 18.3 percent for Week Five. The state’s positivity rate, reported by the Washington State Department of Health, was at 22.4 percent for Week Four. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked nationwide positivity at 19.2 for Week Four.
Around the beginning of the year, Clark County crossed the 10 percent threshold, then dropped below it for one week.
The last two flu seasons, Clark County has entered active flu season closer to November and December.
So far this year, 98 percent of the positive tests have been for influenza Type A, which causes more serious complications and symptoms than influenza B.
The 2017-18 flu season was one of the worst in the U.S., according to the CDC. There were about 80,000 estimated deaths, including 180 children — the most since the CDC started using its latest surveillance procedures.
About 80 percent of the children who died didn’t receive a flu shot. Fourteen people died from the flu last season in Clark County.
Wyatt Stayner: 360-735-4546; wyatt.stayner@columbian.com; twitter.com/WStayner
