A 3-year-old child who tested positive for the flu died this week and is now suspected of being the first minor in Hidalgo County to have died from the flu this year.
The child, who died either Monday or early Tuesday, was experiencing flu-like symptoms such as cough, congestion and fever before their death, according to Hidalgo County Health Authority Dr. Ivan Melendez.
“Right now, as far as I know, there are two cases in the state of children that are suspected of dying from influenza, ours and another one in a different part of the state,” Melendez said Tuesday. “We believe that these might be the first deaths in 2022 of children that can be attributed directly to the flu.”
Despite their symptoms and positive test result for the flu, Melendez said the death cannot officially be attributed to the flu until state health officials review the case, a process that takes approximately two weeks.
“We won’t know with certainty for about two weeks after all the analyses, the review of the medical records, the review by the state department of health and their committee, whether we’re going to attribute this directly to the flu,” Melendez said, “but as of today, with the information that we have, it certainly appears that this is the cause of this person passing away.”
On Tuesday morning, there were 30 people hospitalized throughout the county with the flu. By Tuesday evening, the number had risen to 38, according to Melendez.
He added there were as low as two and as many as seven people in intensive care units with the flu.
In addition to the 38 patients with the flu, Melendez said there were 42 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday, together making up 8% of hospital beds in the county.
“I think people need to be aware of that when we think that both of these problems are over or not significant,” Melendez said, “because I think these still are significant and still are important.”
Melendez pointed out that out of the nearly eight billion people around the world, there are an estimated billion cases of the flu every year. Of those cases, he said, there are anywhere between 350,000 to 800,00 people who die from the flu.
During the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic — when people wore masks regularly and practiced social distancing — there was a dip in flu cases.
But now that those protections have been significantly relaxed, flu cases are expected to rise again.
Melendez added that fewer children are being vaccinated now than they were before the pandemic, likely due to a growing anti-vaccination sentiment.
“The expectation is that this year and perhaps next year, we expect to see more of a negative impact because of that lack of community protection, the lack of vaccination because of the anti-vaxxer perspective and the lack of immunity in the community,” Melendez said.
He said that typically there are an average of three to five people who are hospitalized with the flu for every 100,000 people in a population.
With Hidalgo County’s population, the expectation then would be to have about 50 people hospitalized with the flu, according to Melendez.
“We’re at 38 today, but we’re just starting off on our flu season and it’s been consistent,” he said. “So I do believe that we’re in for a higher than usual year.”
