NEW LONDON COUNTY, Conn. (WTNH) – The Connecticut Department of Public Health has confirmed the first flu death of the year in Connecticut.
The resident was an adult between the ages of 50 to 59 from New London County.
“This is a tragic reminder that the 2022-23 flu season is already an active one. As we approach the holidays, I strongly recommend that persons 6 months of age and older get a flu shot,” said DPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani.
According to DPH, as of Nov. 26, there have been around 6,000 flu cases reported in the state and 102 hospitalizations.
No additional information was released about the person who died from the flu.
“This is an early flu season for us,” Juthani said. “It is continuing to trend up, so we can only expect that it will get higher.”
Juthani said that the state’s last bad flu season was in 2019-20.
The epicenter appears to be in Fairfield County and is expected to spread throughout the state.
And now, pediatric cases of flu are being seen more with hospitals in the northeast all working together and sharing ICU beds if needed.
The state is working with children’s and adult hospitals to continue care levels for flu, RSV, and COVID-19 this winter, ready to approve alternate areas of care in hospitals if flex space is needed.
“We’ve been working with the hospital association, and with our hospitals for many months because I’ve been very concerned about this,” Juthani said.
For more information about the flu, click here.