COLUMBUS – February is usually the peak of flu season, but not this year.
Health officials in Ohio and elsewhere say flu cases and hospitalizations have been at their lowest levels in decades.
“Last year at this point, we were approaching 5,500 flu hospitalizations in Ohio. This year, we haven’t even hit one hundred,” Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, chief medical officer for the Ohio Department of Health said during a recent coronavirus briefing with Gov. Mike DeWine.
By comparison, there are currently 1,338 Ohioans hospitalized with COVID-19 and 49,788 have been admitted to hospitals since the pandemic began nearly a year ago.
Experts say that measures put in place to fend off COVID-19 are a big factor.
Some think it’s also possible that the coronavirus has essentially muscled aside not only flu, but also some other bugs usually seen in the fall and winter.
The number of flu infections is so low that it’s difficult for CDC to do its annual calculation of how well the vaccine is working and that could make planning for next season’s flu vaccine tougher too.
In the Republican-led state legislature’s latest effort to rein in the state’s authority, an Ohio House committee reviewed a GOP-backed bill Wednesday that looks to create legislative oversight of emergency orders made by fellow Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health.
The effort is similar to a bill that passed in the Senate last week that would limit public health emergency orders to 90 days, and also give the General Assembly the power to rescind those orders by resolution after 30 days.
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The state Wednesday reported 1,842 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of 959,995.
The pandemic has claimed 17,045 lives, including 77 reported Wednesday.
There were 137 new hospital admissions and 4.84% of the state’s hospital capacity is occupied by COVID-19 patients.
The state’s current positivity rate is 5% and there are 45,525 active cases.
The state has administered initial vaccine doses to 1.5 million Ohioans and 742,857 individuals have receive both doses, or 6.36% of the total population.