As the flu virus reaches widespread levels across the country, Northeast Tennessee is continuing to see extremely high levels of the illness.

“We have seen a pretty high sustained spread this season,” said Jamie Swift, RN CIC SAPIC, who serves as the Director of Infection Prevention for Mountain States Health Alliance.

The healthcare system is currently going on their fifth consecutive week of having more than 200 cases of flu confirmed at their hospitals. While those numbers are high, Swift said they do not fully paint the picture of how the flu virus is impacting the region this season.

“Most people don’t come to the ED (Emergency Department) for flu-like symptoms so we know that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what’s actually out there in the community,” Swift said.

One of the things which has marked the difference between this flu season and previous years is how early the virus began to spread. “Typically we don’t see that many cases in December,” Swift said.

Another major difference has been the particular strain of flu virus circulating. According to Swift, this year Mountain States has seen Type A, Type B and Type H3N2 variants of the flu virus, with H3N2 being the most dominant of the strains.

“Of the three, H3N2 is the worst,” Swift explained, adding the H3N2 strain has shown more severe symptoms and lead to more hospitalizations than the other strains.

Across the country, several deaths have been reported from the flu virus. According to Swift, Mountain States has seen six flu-related deaths at their hospitals so far this season. “For our hospitals, it’s a little more than we typically see,” Swift said.

While the disease has seen an increase in cases across the region, medical officials are not sure when the end may be in sight.

“The hard part is we can’t predict when it will peak,” said Dr. Tim Jones, M.D., the Tennessee Department of Health’s State Epidemiologist. “If it keeps going like this, it will be a particularly severe year.”

Both Jones and Swift said their organizations are still encouraging anyone who has not gotten a flu shot this season to do so to help avoid not only contracting the virus but also to help abate the spread of the illness through the community.

“It’s not too late to get a flu shot,” Jones said. “Even if people who have received the vaccine get the flu, it can reduce the severity of the symptoms and decrease the risk of hospitalization.”

Swift said Mountain States is encouraging the vaccine, particularly for those at high risk of contracting the flu or for suffering more severe symptoms should they get the virus. Part of that reason, Swift explained, is because officials with the healthcare organization feel the season is not yet near the end.

“We still expect flu to spread for a while, possibly several weeks,” Swift said.

Swift and Jones provided the following tips to help individuals avoid contracting or spreading the virus:

• Frequent washing of the hands or use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer

• Do not cough into your hands as this helps spread the virus through contact with other people or common surfaces. Instead, cough into your elbow or shoulder

• Stay home if you are sick. Do not go to work or group gatherings if you feel any flu-like symptoms. Jones said recommendations are for individuals to be symptom-free for at least 24 hours before returning to work, attending events, or being out in public.

A few weeks ago, Mountain States announced the healthcare system was implementing visitation restrictions at its hospital facilities to try to stop the spread of the virus. Last week, Mountain States announced they were increasing visitation restrictions in response to the increasing number of flu cases.

“We are really trying to limit who is coming into our facilities, and that is to protect our patients as well as the community,” Swift said.

To protect patients, team members, and physicians from potential exposure, Mountain States hospitals are asking the following individuals to refrain from visiting patients at this time:

• Anyone who has flu-like symptoms, such as cough, sore throat, fever, chills, runny nose, body aches, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea

• Anyone younger than 18

• Any groups of more than two adults per patient.