Thurston County reports first flu-related death of the 2024-2025 season
Thurston County has recorded its first influenza-related death for the 2024-2025 flu season, according to a Friday news release.
The county learned about the death as the state is seeing a rise in influenza transmission. Washington state Department of Health (DOH) data shows increasing levels of flu hospitalizations and emergency room visits that began around November and has continued to increase.
“Every year hundreds of thousands of people in the United States are hospitalized from flu-related illnesses,” the release says. “Influenza-like illness activity in Washington is currently high, with influenza A being the most common strain circulating.”
There have been five reported influenza-related deaths in the state during the 2024-2025 flu season as of Dec. 21, per a weekly DOH update. That same update showed 23 flu-like illness outbreaks in long-term care facilities for the season.
About 3.3% of emergency department visits were diagnosed with influenza in Thurston County during the week ending in Dec. 28, according to data from the county’s Public Health and Social Services (PHSS) department.
That rate is about the county’s 1.1% transmission alert threshold, which suggests there is substantial transmission of the virus in the county. It’s also higher than the 3% rate the county reported during the same week in the 2023-2024 season.
The rate for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was 0.6% for week ending in Dec. 28, about 0.2% higher than the transmission alert threshold for that virus. COVID-19, on the other hand, was at 0.6%, which is below the transmission alert threshold of 2.9%.
PHSS data shows there was one influenza-related death in Thurston County during the 2023-2204 season and 6 total influenza outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
PHSS recommends people who get sick with flu-like symptoms stay home and isolate, except to get medical care. Most people experience mild illness and do not need medical care or antiviral medications.
However, some people are at increased risk for serious complications. Those people include young children, people 65 and older, pregnant people and people with certain medical conditions, according to the release.
PHSS says people should get an updated flu vaccine if they haven’t already. Additionally, the release indicates people can take the following measures.
- Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds with sudsy soap in warm water, or with hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
- Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose where germs like to enter.
- Stay home when you’re sick and isolate sick household members in separate rooms.
- Wear a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated settings.
- Limit the number of close contacts for young infants and individuals with certain chronic conditions.
- Clean high-touch surfaces frequently with a cleaner known to kill these common viruses.
- People in higher-risk groups are recommended to contact their healthcare provider if they develop flu symptoms.
