Jim Pancheri opens the door of his Munster home with a smile and a question for Meals on Wheels of Northwest Indiana volunteer Janice Lorman: Have you had a flu shot?”
“Yes,” says Lorman. “I had my flu shot.”
Lorman makes it a priority because she interacts with a lot of people and handles food samples as a store demonstrator in addition to her weekly Meals on Wheels deliveries. She always gets a flu shot and uses a lot of sanitary wipes.
Visitors to the Pancheri home who have not had a flu shot are given a mask. This protects Jim’s wife Maryann, a former Munster teacher.
“Maryann’s immune system is compromised and she can’t get a flu shot,” he said. “Everyone washes their hands and wears a mask. We provide our helpers with latex gloves. But we can’t live in a bubble.”
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As the flu season wears on, health officials urge those who have not been vaccinated to get a flu shot, wash their hands frequently and stay home if they don’t feel well.
The number of people seeking vaccinations at the Lake County Health Department has jumped in the last week, according to Maryann Kundich, nursing supervisor.
“And of course, I attribute that to the media,” she said. “Basically, every year it starts out very, very slow. We have given more doses in the last week than we have in previous weeks. (On Jan. 30) we gave 10 shots. Two weeks ago on Jan. 16, we gave zero.”
In Northwest Indiana, more than 1,000 patients have tested positive for flu throughout the Community Healthcare System, officials said. That number does not include patients who are treated for flu but not tested, according to Alan Kumar, chief medical information officer for the Community Healthcare System, which includes Community Hospital and Hartsfield Village in Munster, St. Catherine’s Hospital in East Chicago, St. Mary’s in Hobart and more than 100 office locations across the region.
Kumar said there’s been an increase in influenza testing in all age groups.
“In urgent care and the emergency department, you don’t always do the test. You treat presumptively,” Kumar said. “There’s always variables based on patient’s history, but as a generality, those who come in with typical symptoms for flu are treated. The treatment is an anti-viral medication.”
He said the number of people testing positive “is a little bit of an increase. The real questions are going to be, ‘How long is the flu season going to go on? What will the final number be?’ If we are at 1,000 (testing positive) now and only halfway through the season, it will be a big number.
He cited another consequence.
“Those that have other medical illnesses are getting sicker than we would have seen in other flu seasons. (But) mortality (in the Community Healthcare System) is not any higher than typical,” he said.
The Indiana Department of Health reports a total 107 influenza-associated deaths statewide as of Jan. 26. According to Sara Hallyburton, state respiratory epidemiologist, there were 105 deaths reported for the entire flu season in 2016-17; 69 deaths in 2015-16 and 149 deaths in 2014-15.
The flu season runs from October through May and usually peaks in January, although last year it peaked in February, Hallyburton said. “I don’t know when the flu season will peak (this year). We are still waiting to see,” she said.
Most of the 107 deaths in the state this year — 83 — were those 65 and older; 15 were among those aged 50 to 64. Another seven deaths were reported among people aged 25 to 49, while two deaths occurred in the 5 to 24 age group.
“The hardest hit are always over age 65,” said Hallyburton. “In typical years, children ages zero to 4 are second hardest hit. For some reason, this year the 50 to 64 age group is increased. In general, in most of these deaths, the person had underlying conditions no matter their age.”
The School City of Hobart and Lake Central School Corp. noted a recent increase in absences, officials said. With about 4,000 students and teachers, the Hobart schools reported an estimated 7 percent absence rate this flu season. Absences related to true flu symptoms and diagnosis was about 5 percent, according to Superintendent Peggy Buffington.
According to Lake Central School Corp. Superintendent Larry Veracco, there has not been an increase in staff absences, but Lake Central High School had about 400 student absences each day for the five days leading up to Jan. 30. Homan Elementary School had 35 to 40 absences per day for the past week, compared to the typical 25 per day.
“I do not have data to differentiate multiple-day absence (flu) from colds, other etc.,” Veracco said in an email.
Meanwhile, along the Meals on Wheels route, Juanita Caraballo opens the door for Lorman and welcomes her into the house. Caraballo’s husband, Jose, gets a flu shot every year through the Veterans Administration.
“We’ve been lucky. We go places and he doesn’t get sick,” Juanita Caraballo said. “Some of my family has had the flu, but I don’t let them come in the door.”
Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.