Nearly 740 Coloradans were hospitalized with flu for the week ending Jan. 3, according to the latest data posted Wednesday from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Two days after Christmas, Colorado hit a record 831 people hospitalized with flu, the most since the state began tracking it two decades ago. At year's end, there were almost 800 people in Colorado hospitalized with influenza at year's end.
Dr. Ken Lyn-Kew, a critical care pulmonologist at National Jewish Health in Denver, spoke about what's behind the spike. This year's vaccine isn't ideal, but it's better than not being inoculated.
"It's still reducing it, but just not to the degree that we would expect," he said. "In a good year, it would do this about 70% of the time. In a bad year, it's about 20 to 30%. That's about what we're seeing this year. Now just because it's not perfect doesn't mean we don't recommend getting it— particularly if you're in a vulnerable group."
