Flu deaths down, but pneumonia deaths spike in Kansas amid pandemic

Minimal influenza activity in Kansas has not kept the state from experiencing high numbers of pneumonia deaths, which appear to have surged due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pneumonia deaths for the 2020-21 flu season have already nearly doubled the total pneumonia deaths for the 2018-19 flu season. The state is only about halfway through the flu season, which runs from the start of September to the end of May.

At the same time, zero deaths have been directly attributed to seasonal influenza, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports. There have been two deaths with the flu listed as a contributing cause.

Health officials theorize the reduced flu activity is due to precautions many people are following amid the coronavirus pandemic. Data shows the surge in pneumonia deaths is likely due to COVID-19 patients who developed the lung infection.

“We are seeing lower numbers of influenza direct and contributing causes of death,” Kristi Zears, a KDHE spokesperson, said in an email. “This does seem to match up with what we are seeing as far as a lower percentage of emergency department visits related to influenza like illness.”

The state’s emergency department data reported through the COVID-19 dashboard shows that for the most recent week, less than one-tenth of a percent of patient visits were for the flu. Comparatively, 6.6% were for COVID-19.

The COVID-19 figure peaked at 11.3% the week of Thanksgiving. The chart, which only shows the past 12 months, had flu visits peaking at 6.4% the week of Feb. 2.

The KDHE’s data for Sedgwick County shows similar trends. Emergency visits for the flu dropped in March as COVID-19 visits rose. Flu rates remained flat, even as COVID-19 rates spike in June and July, then again in October and November.

Kenny Wilk, representing the University of Kansas Health System during a hospital association teleconference for the Kansas City metro area, said medical facilities typically have a higher demand for beds this time of year.

“This is more good news ... we’re seeing very little of the flu, of people hospitalized for flu,” Wilk said on Tuesday. “There is flu out in the community, but it is much, much reduced. We believe that’s because people are practicing the protocols.”

Tuesday’s reports from the Kansas Hospital Association show the south-central region had the worst availability for adult, staffed ICU beds in the state. The Sedgwick County Health Department reported zero available ICU beds in Wichita’s two primary hospitals.

Wichita businessman Jon Rolph asked Ascension Via Christi representative Dee Dee Dewell about the strained ICU capacity during a regional hospital call on Tuesday.

“There’s kind of a combination of things,” Dewell replied. “We still have quite a few ICU beds that are dedicated for COVID patients, so of course that reduces our normal ICU bed capacity. But I think this time of year plays a part of it. Although at the same time, as other people have noted, we really aren’t seeing a lot of the flu hospitalization activity.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports minimal influenza activity in Kansas and 48 other states.

The KDHE’s data shows just two deaths so far this flu season had the flu as a contributing cause of death. Last flu season there were 141 total deaths connected to the flu, and the previous flu season had 97.

Now at about the halfway point for the current flu season, there have already been 1,880 deaths with pneumonia listed as a contributing factor. There have been an additional 142 deaths where pneumonia was the direct cause of death.

Last flu season had a total of 1,024 deaths where pneumonia was a contributing factor. The previous season had 973.

The KDHE official did not directly respond to a question about the surge in pneumonia deaths. Data collected by the CDC suggests the coronavirus disease is to blame.

Tuesday’s data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics shows about 46.6% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. also involved pneumonia.

The NCHS data for Kansas shows about 42.3% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have involved pneumonia. The center reported 3,408 total COVID-19 deaths in Kansas, with 1,444 of those involving pneumonia.

The center reported lower totals of COVID-19 and pneumonia deaths than the KDHE reported because of delays in entering death certificate data into the national statistics. It is unclear how many flu deaths the CDC has reported for Kansas this flu season as the federal data is based on calendar years.

“This phenomenon of lower than normal flu cases has been reported nationally and even internationally,” said Zears, the KDHE spokesperson. “There are different theories for this, including that the public health mitigation strategies for COVID-19, i.e. physical distancing and masking, also help control the spread of influenza. Another possible explanation is higher percentages of people who got the flu vaccine this year.”