SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego County reported its first death of the 2022 flu season, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced Thursday morning.
According to an email from a county spokesperson, the person who died was a 55-year-old man from the North Central region of the county. The man did have an underlying health condition, according to HHSA.
Between July 3 and Oct. 22, the county recorded 2,528 cases of influenza and one death from the virus, the HHSA respiratory virus surveillance report for Oct. 27, 2022, stated.
Over that same period, the county reported 88,207 cases of COVID-19, as well as 131 COVID-19 deaths.
The vast majority of flu cases, 1,762 to be exact, were reported in October alone. Meanwhile, 5,032 cases of COVID-19 were reported in October. Nearly 48,000 of the COVID-19 cases happened in July.
The HHSA data also shows 52 percent of the flu cases are in children between the ages of 5 and 17 years old. People ages 18 to 49 account for 29 percent of those illnesses.
Below, you'll see flu and COVID-19 death data for San Diego County from the past three fiscal years*:
- 2021-22
- COVID-19 deaths = 1,596
- Flu deaths = 8
- 2020-21
- COVID-19 deaths = 3,364
- Flu deaths = 2
- 2019-20
- COVID-19 deaths = 426
- Flu deaths = 108
*(NOTE: current fiscal year data from July 3 through Oct. 22 mentioned earlier in article)
For more information about respiratory viruses in our area, head to the HHSA website.
You can find locations in San Diego County distributing flu shots to the publicat this link.
The county also has more information about and locations for the COVID-19 vaccine here.
