By Amir Mohammad
Public Health
Dr. Amir Mohammad
I recently attended our semiannual meeting with Connecticut’s public health commissioner. This meeting was very informative as all the local health directors learned about the cumulative impact of federal funding cuts on various public health initiatives and programs.
During this meeting state epidemiologist Dr. Lynn Sosa informed us that the state Department of Public Health has developed and launched a dashboard that displays a weekly report of viral respiratory illness. It is an interactive dashboard that provides information on influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, COVID-19, syndromic surveillance, wastewater surveillance and vaccination.
This dashboard uses a consistent method to track and analyze data across different years and diseases. The case data comes from the state’s disease tracking program, the Connecticut Electronic Disease Surveillance Systems.
Influenza cases and lab data are obtained from the CTEDSS. All Connecticut labs report positive influenza tests to DPH. These test results include the type (type A, type B), or the virus subtype (H3N2), which helps determine the specific virus strains circulating in the state. As of this writing, there have been 794 cases of influenza cases reported and the majority of them are type A.
Syndrome surveillance provides information on weekly emergency department visits in Connecticut. Compared to the last two years, the rate of ED visits due to viral illnesses are lower.
The vaccination record shows that 946,417 individuals have been vaccinated for influenza in the current season. Similarly, 294,231 individuals of various age groups have received COVID-19 vaccines during the current season.
This dashboard provides essential, accurate data for review by health care and public health professionals to keep their residents informed. We are currently in the process of posting the link on the Health Department’s section of the Orange’s website.
Dr. Amir Mohammad is the director of the Orange Health Department.