MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW)
The South Dakota Department of Health has confirmed that the 2023-24 flu season is the worst one in the last five years. The number of flu cases, hospitalizations and deaths is the highest since the 2018-2019 flu season when there were 43 deaths from the flu. Thus far this flu season, there have been 42 flu related deaths, 80 hospitalizations and numerous cases of severe influenza.
Flu season typically peaks in the first week of February in South Dakota. However, the South Dakota Department of Health has identified the peak of this year’s flu season as the second week of March. Medical professionals speculate that one of the reasons that the flu hit South Dakotans harder this year is because fewer people chose to get their flu shots and that lower rate of inoculation has led to a diminishing of, what is known as, herd immunity for the wider population thereby increasing the risk of the most vulnerable among us, namely the very young and the very old.