While the public’s — and public health officials’ — attention was focused on measles, the seasonal scourge of influenza ended.
At least five adults in Clallam County and one in Jefferson County died of the H3N2 virus and its complications this winter.
People still are reporting upper respiratory illnesses, but their sneezes and wheezes aren’t the flu, said Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Jefferson County.
“There’s other things that can give you the common cold,” he said.
Flu season in the Pacific Northwest usually commences in January after holiday travelers return to their workplaces and schools.
It usually ends in March.
Through the week of March 28, a total of 139 people in Washington state, including one child, had died from the flu in the 2014-15 season, according to the state Department of Health.
The six deaths reported by the end of February on the North Olympic Peninsula were elderly patients who had had other medical conditions that contributed to their deaths.
The 2014-15 flu season was the worst since 2005 for Americans 65 and older, partly because the strain shifted from the one for which health officials had prepared a vaccine.
