Flu numbers rise; clinics see similar increase in patients

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Consider it parenting logic of the most advanced form: if your teenage son complains of feeling ill on the eve of a long holiday weekend, you know it's probably legitimate.

Such is the case for Leslie Schroeder, who's 14-year-old son, Aaron, developed a high fever on Saturday and continued to have symptoms on the night before Minnesota's students began their annual fall, four-day weekend.

"I'm pretty sure it's the flu. He hasn't been tested for H1N1 or anything like that," Leslie said.

But when Leslie brought Aaron into Park Nicollet's Urgent Care Center on Wednesday, she discovered a waiting room full of flu patients.

"I was surprised by how many people had a cough. How many people had their masks on," Leslie said.

In fact, Park Nicollet's Urgent Care center has seen a 60 percent increase in patients in recent days, according to Dr. Rahim Hosseini-Dehkord.

"Usually we do have an average 45-60 minute [wait time], which now, with the rush of patients, it's now at least an hour and a half," Hosseini-Dehkord said.

And now there's a numerical explanation for the rush: the latest numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health show the number of people across the state who went to the doctor for flu-like symptoms jumped from 5 to 11.4 percent in just one week.

What's more, the number of schools in the state reporting outbreaks also jumped from 125 to 215.

Doug Schultz with the Minnesota Department of Health says the numbers are not yet staggering but what is concerning, he says, is the potential for what's next. "We will expect to continue to see hospitalizations and unfortunately, we will probably also continue to see some deaths," Schultz said.

Schultz said the health and overall communities remain eager for the general release of the H1N1 vaccine, due to arrive in large quantities in mid- to late-November. In the meantime, both clinics and the health department are fine-tuning their contingency plans.

Park Nicollet plans to shift doctors and nurses from other departments to help treat flu patients, if necessary.

The health department will also operate regional and local flu centers for overflow patients, if necessary.

As for the long weekend for Minnesota students, officials do have some advice: they're asking families to stay closer to home and not participate in any sleep-over events to help stop the spread of the flu.  

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