Four of the five counties bordering Baxter reported school absenteeism rates for the week ending last Saturday above the state’s average of 5.6 percent.
The report released Wednesday indicates Searcy County had an absenteeism rate of 7.12 percent, followed by Marion at 6.47 percent, Stone at 6.08 percent and Izard at 6.03 percent.
Baxter County’s school absenteeism rate stood at just under the state average at 5.41 percent, while Fulton’s was at 4.89.
During the flu season the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) produces a Weekly Influenza Report for clinicians. The report provides information on flu activity in the state. The report also compares influenzalike-illness (ILI) in Arkansas to activity in the U.S. ADH receives reports of only a fraction of flu cases, since it only requires reports of hospitalizations, deaths and outbreaks.
Therefore, it is important to understand the information in the weekly update is representative of the timing and location of activity, but it does not reflect the overall burden of disease. It is presumed there are many more people actually affected than the report shows.
Across Arkansas, “sporadic” activity has been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since Sept. 29, over 482 positive influenza tests have been reported to the ADH online database by health care providers, with over 110 positive tests reported this week. Reported cases reflect only a portion of the actual numbers of flu cases in the state.
Among flu antigen tests that can distinguish between influenza A and B virus types, 72 percent were influenza A, and 28 percent were influenza B.
To date, no influenza-related deaths have been reported in Arkansas this flu season. A total of 120 deaths were reported last flu season.
To date, no nursing homes in Arkansas have reported influenza outbreaks.
To view the full report, click flu report
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