Midway through February, ambulance service MedStar was seeing more flu-related calls a day than in January. That’s despite the fact that January brought the most flu-related deaths to the region. The numbers were an indicator that even if this season’s version of the flu had stopped causing as many fatalities, it hadn’t stopped putting significant stress on the Dallas-Fort Worth healthcare community. (That idea was backed up by a Parkland representative who told me that we might actually be in for a second peak this season, as the less-deadly type B strand was picking up steam.)
Anyway, MedStar chimes in this time around with some good news. Flu cases—which were up to 19.8 per day as of Mid-February, a 13 percent increase over January—actually ended the month at 16.2 cases per day, a 7 percent decrease. Let’s breathe in this news with the fresh, 65-degree air, and hope we’re getting closer to putting this torrid flu season behind us.
