Local Flu Surge Starts to Taper Off
- Philip Thibodeau
- 12 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Every winter in our area there is a sharp rise in the number of cases of various respiratory illnesses – the common cold, RSV, flu, and, since 2020, COVID-19. This season, cases of RSV and COVID have been lower than they were in past years. Flu cases, by contrast, showed an unusually large spike right after Christmas, with impacts at the national and state level that were also felt in Southington.
More people come down with the flu in the winter because cold, dry conditions help the virus that causes the illness to survive outside the human body, both in the air and on surfaces. When it is cold out, people also tend to spend more time in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation; these circumstances make it much easier for the tiny droplets that carry the virus to spread from one person to another.
Every year a slightly different variety of the flu evolves and spreads across the globe. This year’s variant, known as ‘K’, started spreading late in 2025 – after this season’s recommended vaccine had already been designed and distributed. This meant that vaccines, while still offering substantial protection against the flu, were less effective than usual. That was one of the reasons the K variant spread so rapidly and gave rise to so many cases – the worst outbreak in 25 years.
Southington’s local public health authority is known as the South Central Health District (SCHD). Director Susan Lonczak and her nine staff members work from an office in the Weichsel Center that serves the three communities of Southington, Plainville, and Middlefield:
The SCHD has a wide range of public health duties that including inspecting local restaurants, promoting awareness of radon, and monitoring tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease. They also keep an eye on respiratory illnesses, notifying the public during surges and recommending precautions.
On January 6, the SCHD posted on its social media accounts that levels of acute respiratory illness in Connecticut had reached the category Very High. At that level, Lonczak noted, people can notice its impact in their circle of acquaintances. “It seems like everyone has something,” she said.
One place where the surge was felt locally was at an assisted living facility in town, whose elderly residents tend to be more vulnerable to flu infections. On December 31 of 2025, the facility made the difficult decision to suspend dining and group activities for residents. Those restrictions lasted until January 19. Regular activities have since resumed, although a precautionary note still greets visitors at the main entrance:
What do the numbers behind a surge look like? At the national level, the Center for Disease Control publishes statistics with broad margins of uncertainty, putting the number of cases of influenza somewhere between 20 and 36 million, the number of hospitalizations between 270,000 and 550,000, and the number of deaths between 11,000 and 58,000.
In Connecticut, the Department of Public Health tracks and publishes more specific counts. Compared to the previous rolling year, there were 65% more cases of influenza (56,450 to 34,123), 92% more hospitalizations (5,689 to 2,967), and 139% more deaths (285 to 119). The spike that just passed is clearly visible in this DPH graph:
Lonczak cautions against focusing too much on the exact numbers, given the unsystematic nature of reporting. Instead, the important thing is the trend itself.
“It’s difficult to have true numbers because people can do at-home testing,” she said. “The data we’re getting are real, but they’re incomplete. They just tell us the trend, but not the true number, because there are people who are not in the system. That’s fine, that’s the world we are living in, but it means all we can do is offer preventative messaging."
And that message? It is a familiar one – simple, but shown by experience to be effective: “Get vaccinated, stay home if you’re sick – and wash your hands.”