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Health official reports spike in flu; state life-expectancy maps need updating, DPH says
Summary
Dr. Katie Richardson told the Health and Wellness Advisory Committee that influenza-like illness visits reached nearly 8% in late December and that the state recorded 312 hospitalizations and two deaths in that week, while DPH works to update life-expectancy maps based on older (2010–2015) data.
Dr. Katie Richardson briefed the Health and Wellness Advisory Committee on Jan. 8 about a rapid rise in seasonal influenza and about efforts to update life-expectancy maps used for local planning.
Richardson said influenza-like illness accounted for “almost 8% of all visits” in the last week of December and reported 312 hospitalizations in that same week; she said there were two deaths statewide during that week and “no deaths yet in the low country.” She described activity as widespread and dominated by influenza A and reiterated public-health recommendations: flu vaccination (which takes about two weeks to become effective), hand hygiene, surface cleaning, distancing and mask use for people at higher risk.
Richardson also reported rises in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID, though she said those increases were smaller than the current influenza surge. She reminded the committee that updated COVID boosters and RSV vaccines are recommended for some higher-risk groups.
On life-expectancy mapping, Richardson said the maps shared at recent data events were produced through a USA LEAP partnership using 2010–2015 data at the census-tract level and that there is presently no funded plan to continue that specific partnership. She said the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) is in the early stages of attempting to replicate the methodology so that revised maps can be produced with more recent data.
Committee members said a more recent map would be useful; Richardson said she would keep the committee updated as DPH works to replicate the methodology and produce updated maps.
