Community Corner
UPDATE: 18 Flu Deaths Confirmed in Bay Area
2 new cases hospitalized in Napa Valley at St. Helena Hospital.
UPDATE: Jan. 14, 2014
By BAY CITY NEWS SERVICE AND PATCH STAFF
Two more people were hospitalized in Napa Valley with the flu, bringing the total in local hospitals to 10.The two new hospitalizations were at St. Helena Hospital. The patients were ages 71 and 48. They were not placed in the ICU, according to Elizabeth Emmett, Napa County public information officer.
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Of the 10 total hospitalizations, seven are in the ICU, two are non-ICU and another patient, a pregnant woman, is not in the ICU.
No one has died in Napa County from the flu, but elsewhere in the Bay Area, a new total of 18 deaths was reported today.
Find out what's happening in Napa Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
There was one death reported in Solano County today after a Vallejo man in his 40s was infected with the H1N1 strain, or "swine flu."
His was the first flu death of the season in that county. The man had chronic medical conditions before he fell ill, county health officials said.
There have been also been 10 people hospitalized in the county with swine flu and other strains of influenza, according to health officials.
A third flu-related death was reported today in San Mateo County. The second was reported Monday, county health system spokeswoman Robyn Thaw
said.
Two of the three patients that died had underlying medical conditions and at least two of the cases were H1N1, according to health officials.
Swine flu, which first emerged in 2009, is known to be more dangerous to young and middle-age adults than other strains of the flu.
Health officials are urging everyone ages 6 months and older to get vaccinated.
The peak of flu season is between January and March, and the vaccine takes about two weeks after inoculation to be fully effective, according to health officials.
PREVIOUSLY: Jan. 13, 2014
Four more people with flu were hospitalized over the weekend in the intensive care unit of Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, county officials said Monday.
Elizabeth Emmett, Napa County public information officer, said the four new cases brings the total hospitalized in Napa at The Queen since Jan. 6 to eight: seven in the ICU and one person, a pregnant woman, who is not in the ICU.
No deaths have been reported in Napa County from flu, although a total of 14 deaths are now confirmed in other parts of the Bay Area.
According to Bay City News Service, the two Santa Clara people who died were both in their early 60s; the Santa Cruz person was a man under age 50.
Today's deaths brings the total in Santa Clara to four; three in Alameda; two people dead in Marin; and one each in Sonoma, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Contra Costa counties.
Emmett urged residents to get vaccinated, follow proper hygiene and to stay home if ill.
Interestingly, the World Health Organization on Monday told Patch that it's no longer correct to refer to H1N1 as swine flu because once the virus evolved to be transmitted among people pigs were no longer involved in the illness and it became a human influenza virus.
Click here for Napa County flu shot information.
Click here for CDC flu symptoms guidelines.
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