The Associated Press

and Peninsula Daily News

OLYMPIA — Influenza has claimed at least seven lives in Washington state so far this season, the state Health Department said.

None of the deaths were in Clallam or Jefferson counties but the season on the North Olympic Peninsula is shaping up to be severe, as it is in the rest of the state and much of the nation, according to Dr. Tom Locke, public heath officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties.

The two deaths last week and five this week were confirmed in lab tests, Donn Moyer, state Heath Department spokesman, said Wednesday.

It’s likely there were more flu-related deaths for which there were no lab tests, he said.

“This is the start,” Moyer said. “We expect to see flu deaths going up now.”

The flu is widespread in the state, meaning there are flu-like illnesses in half of the counties or more. There were 79 flu deaths in Washington last flu season.

One death each has been reported in Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap counties. Two deaths were in Chelan County and one was in the southeast region of the state, Moyer said.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., said the flu virus crossed into being an epidemic this past week when the percent of deaths attributed to the flu hit 7 percent nationwide. The flu is widespread in 36 states, the CDC said.

Nationwide 2,643 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations have been reported since Oct. 1, with the highest rate for people 65 years and older, the CDC said.

On the Peninsula, medical personnel are seeing increased flu activity, Locke said.

Most importantly, Locke said: “It looks like the predominate strain of the flu this year is the H3N2 strain, which first started with the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968 and has been around ever since.

“This tends to be a more severe form of influenza,” he said.

“So more people get hospitalized and more deaths occur.”

In addition, some forms of the H3N2 stain may not be fully covered by the vaccine developed for this flu season.

“We don’t really know that yet,” Locke said. “We probably won’t until the end of the flu season. But at least it’s a possibility.”

Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles reported last week that it had admitted patients with influenza, although no figures were available from there or from Jefferson Healthcare hospital in Port Townsend.

Since the Clallam County Health and Human Services department started tracking the flu last month, 27 people had tested positive for influenza A or B, ranging from 5 to 84 years old, said Iva Burks, director, last week.

Flu test results from Jefferson County from last week show about 25 percent of tests as being positive for influenza, with a mix between the two strains, influenza A and influenza B, Locke said Wednesday.

“So everything’s lining up to make this look like a more severe flu season than in previous years,” Locke said.

“And it’s very much taking off.

He expects the peak of the Peninsula flu season to be in mid- to late-January.

“So we’re expecting to see every week for the next three to four weeks, things will get worse and worse.

Medical officials urge people to get vaccinations.

Vaccinations are available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays at the Clallam County Health Department, 111 E. Third St., Suite 1A, Port Angeles.

Walk-in immunizations are available from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan St., Port Townsend.

Many OMC and Jefferson Healthcare clinics and private providers also offer flu shots, as do some pharmacies.