Ryan Quinlan ’14: With this year’s flu described as “worse than average” by Dr. Thomas R. Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Scholium decided to take a closer look at the flu’s current impact on the Episcopal community. Thus far, the 2012-13 flu season has been described as being worse than the previous two years, with last year being “unusually mild,” according to the New York Times.
Anne Ravreby, Director of EA Health Services (Is this her official title…do we need caps..) stated, “We were actually busier with student visits and illness prior to Christmas vacation. A survey of the surrounding private schools showed the same patterns.… the school setting is usually four to six weeks ahead of what is seen in the local medical community and cases reported in the hospitals.”
Though flu season commonly peaks from January to February in the United States according to the CDC, most cases of the flu within the EA community occurred earlier this winter. This may largely be due to the fact that “Our student population is so geographically mixed; EA usually sees a more spread out illness pattern than a concentrated impact,” according to Ravreby.
Even so, EA tends to experience lower incidences of flu than surrounding areas. Ravreby noted, “Since we require most of our students to get annual exams, I would say a large percentage of our students do get the flu shot.”
Though the effects of this flu season appear less severe at Episcopal than in other areas, the flu does still affect this community. Vaccination for the flu this year “has been running… initially 62-70% effective,” according to Ravreby. She notes that this statistic “is a little lower than normal so some people have been getting [the flu],” even with the vaccination.
However, “in conjunction with cases of flu, there have been a couple of viruses that have been going around that are flu-like” in symptoms, commented Ravreby. “Daily surveillance is done in the Health Offices for those illnesses being reported and the total number of absences. With this in mind, literature pertaining to the flu and its prevention has been sent home to parents.”
On the national level, the majority (76 %) of influenza viruses have been of the H3N2 strain, a typically more severe strain, with normally more hospitalizations and deaths than other strains.
Approximately 130 million vaccines have been manufactured and distributed.
Typically 37% of Americans receive a flu shot; the goal this season is to have 50% of Americans (approximately 157 million people) vaccinated.
Additionally, overall rates of flu-season illness within the United States are high due to widespread outbreaks of two other diseases with similar symptoms: norovirus and whooping cough.
Episcopal appears to have not seen the worst of these illnesses. Ravreby noted the efforts made by the EA community to avoid any outbreaks partly account for this good fortune.
She stated, “In addition to health information that has been sent home, our families have helped by following the guidelines in keeping their children home when they are sick to lessen the spread of the illness.”

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