Arkansas Department of Health reports one additional flu death, 40-plus pneumonia deaths in weekly report for Nov. 25

Alex Kienlen
·2 min read
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The latest report from the Arkansas Department of Health shows flu-like illnesses in the state continue to rise.

The ADH Viral Respiratory Diseases Weekly Report released Thursday for the week ending Nov. 25 showed an additional flu death in the state, making it four dead due to flu for the 2023-2024 flu season that began Oct. 1. All reported deaths were people 65 years old or older, according to ADH.

A year earlier, in its Nov. 19, 2022 report, ADH reported 19 flu deaths in the state, including one pediatric death.

Arkansas Department of Health reports flu, COVID-19 and RSV activity increasing for week of Nov. 11

Eight new hospital admissions for flu were reported for the week.

Based on reporting, Arkansas is in the high-middle for flu activity, scoring seven out of 13, or “moderate,” on the public health scale. The state had been “low” on the scale through October.

Emergency room visits increased over the previous week, with 3.66% of visits for flu-like illness, 3.53% for COVID-like illness and 1.54% for RSV. Flu and COVID-like illnesses were up 0.8% and 0.7% from the previous week, with RSV seeing a 0.23% jump for the same period.

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No COVID-19 deaths were in the Thursday report, showing that 584 in the state had died due to that disease since Jan. 1.

Nineteen hospital admissions for COVID-19 were made for the week of Nov. 25.

Pneumonia for the week had 42 reported deaths, down slightly from the 45 reported deaths for the previous week.

The National Centers for Disease Control estimates that there have been at least 1.2 million illnesses, 12,000 hospitalizations, and 740 deaths from flu so far this season.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital sees spike in RSV cases

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone over six months old get a flu shot yearly “with rare exception.” ADH has flu shots available at its local health units throughout the state.

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