MONROE — International and national news seems fixated on the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but local citizens should know that illness is not more contagious than common seasonal influenza.

Green County Health Officer RoAnn Warden said that as of Feb. 26, there had only been one diagnosed COVID-19 case in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the state is currently going through a particularly severe influenza season where more than 20,000 cases of influenza A, B, H1N1 or RSV have been diagnosed.

“It’s important to put this in perspective because we’re at the peak of the influenza season and people should focus on what they need to do to prevent and protect themselves from that,” Warden said. “Forty percent of the state has been vaccinated against the typical flu and 60% has not. Immunizations are the number one way to help prevent or lessen the severity of influenza.”

Influenza

The Green County Public Health Department has received reports of 22 county residents who have been hospitalized with influenza. Of those, 18 occurred in February.

“According to the update from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services … Feb. 26 was nearing peak flu season and we could expect to see high influenza-like activity for another 3-4 weeks,” Warden said. 

In Wisconsin, three children have died from influenza and 56 pregnant women have been hospitalized.

Ways people can protect themselves from the spread of influenza include regular hand washing, using proper coughing etiquette, staying home when running a fever and have a cough or other symptoms, avoiding close contact with anyone who is sick and cleaning and disinfecting common objects more frequently.

“If a person feels ill and has a fever or a cough, they should call their health care provider and describe their symptoms, so (the health care provider) can receive that person in the proper manner,” Warden said.

Warden said facemask protection isn’t being recommended for the general public. People infected with influenza should wear a facemask when visiting health care providers.

“It’s not too late to get vaccinated,” Warden said.

COVID-19

COVID-19 is the World Health Organization’s designation for what had at first been called “Coronavirus,” which spread out of Wuhan City in China in January. Coronavirus is actually a number of various different viruses that are constantly circulating and evolving. COVID-19 is believed to have originated from a large open-air food market trading in seafood and wild game, according to the WHO.

COVID-19 spreads the same way as seasonal influenza — through droplets coming from an infected person’s respiratory system. Being in the proximity of someone who is infected and having contact with them leads to a higher potential rate of contagion.

The Center for Disease Control’s website has a list of travel alerts that warn people regarding areas where COVID-19 is spreading. The CDC has a classification of risk for certain locations measured as “low,” “medium,” or “high.” The CDC reports COVID-19 is “not spreading” in the United States. The CDC has reported the risk to the average United States citizen regarding COVID-19 is “low.” However, it also states that this is a “rapidly evolving situation” and the risk assessment will be updated.  

The two main travel risk identifications issued by the CDC have included asking United States citizens to avoid nonessential travel to both China and South Korea. Travelers with plans to embark on cruises in or around China have been asked to reconsider.