Despite news from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on the decrease of flu cases, physicians are still on high alert for respiratory illnesses. 

“That doesn’t mean the flu season’s over with yet,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, Chief Health Improvement Officer at MaineHealth.

New data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention this week shows a continued decline in positive tests, hospitalizations and outpatient visits connected with influenza, but Mills said cases of COVID-19 continue to keep hospitals busy.

“I think a month ago, we had about even numbers of people hospitalized for flu as for COVID, now it’s like, at MaineHealth, at our 10 hospitals, we’ve got 62 hospitalized for COVID and four for influenza, so we’ve seen a pretty sharp drop-off,” she said Friday.

Dr. James Jarvis, a senior physician executive at Northern Light Health, agreed, saying, “While we’re seeing a decrease in confirmed cases of influenza and RSV, we are still seeing respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.”

The decline in influenza cases does not mean flu season is over yet, as Mills said it is not unusual for there to be a second surge. That was the case in the 2022 flu season that saw an early surge in cases.

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all, because we’ve still got a long winter ahead, if we see another rise in flu,” she said. “I mean anything could happen.”

New data from MaineCDC shows another four deaths from influenza, but case counts and hospital stays continue to drop.

Most data related to influenza shows the illness has been steadily declining since a peak in late December 2022. 

MaineCDC’s latest report, which covers the week ending Jan. 21, showed the number of flu-related outpatient visits shrank from 2.57% the previous week to 1.87%. 

The number of hospitalizations also continued dropping, from 13 the previous week to only four in the latest report.

The number of positive tests reported to MaineCDC is also down, to only 217.

MaineCDC’s severity map, which labels every county in the state due to how much the disease has spread, showed for the second straight week the entire state was labeled as “low,” the lowest possible classification.

The U.S. CDC reports flu cases continue to decline nationwide. Its own national severity map showed 27 states, including Maine, were considered “low” or “minimal.” The CDC also reported that the central and midwestern part of the U.S. showed outpatient flu-related illness visits below the baseline for the first time since October 2022.