The number of flu cases in Monroe County has begun to taper downward in the latest data available from the county’s public health department.
Nine deaths have been reported from the virus this season, according to those figures. All of them were people over the age of 50.
This time last year, the death toll was 13.
Overall cases of the flu have also decreased from last year, with 2,925 total cases reported in Monroe County this season compared to over 5,000 in the data from this time last year.
The drop-off has been even steeper in the five counties surrounding Monroe, falling from about 5,300 total cases at the beginning of March 2018 to 1,682 in this year’s numbers.
This flu season has marked a return to more typical numbers after last year's widespread outbreak of the virus, which prompted the federal Centers for Disease Control to classify the virus as “high severity across all age groups” in the U.S. for the first time.
Preliminary data from the CDC show this season's flu vaccines have been a better match for the particular strains of the flu virus going around now than the vaccines available last year.
