SAUGUS — Public Health Nurse Teresa Riley-Singh gave her monthly report at Monday’s Board of Health meeting, showing the significant increase in flu cases that hit the town in February.
“February 2025, we saw 16 cases of COVID, which is great, but that also doesn’t include the rapid test,” Riley-Singh said.
She continued that there were two new cases of tuberculosis, six cases of foodborne illnesses, two cases of hepatitis C, and four cases of hepatitis B, which Riley-Singh said was normal. She also said there was one case of pertussis.
While these numbers were viewed as typical, one stood out. “What was kind of a bit unusual for February 2025 is that we had 201 cases of influenza,” she said.
Board Chair Maria Tamagna asked for clarification on whether these numbers were just from February, and Riley-Singh confirmed the information.
“That does not include the fact that they now have over-the-counter tests for the flu,” she said.
Riley-Singh said that in comparison, 2024 had 89 cases in February, and 2023 had five.
“From 2022 to 2020, obviously, people were masking, and it was a bit different. We had two to five cases (during that period). In 2019, we had 22. And in 2017, which was a really bad flu year, we had 57,” she said.
Board member Geraldine Gatchell commented that it means people aren’t getting vaccinated.
“Vaccinations were definitely lower this year,” Riley-Singh said. “I think also people were masked, people were isolating. We’re getting back into how influenza used to be, but it was a bit extreme this year.”
She continued that it’s never too late to get a flu shot and that the flu is around all year.
“I usually tell people to get it later in the season. Mid-October is the best time…I used to work in a burn hospital. I used to work with infectious disease doctors all the time, and the one thing I used to ask them was, ‘What can you do to really protect yourself?’ Across the board, it was the flu shot,” Riley-Singh said.
She said that 242 people in Massachusetts have died of influenza as of February, and seven were pediatric patients.
“The good news is that we’ve reached the peak and that cases are coming down,” she said.
While on the subject of vaccines, Riley-Singh also brought up the situation happening in Texas right now.
“It hasn’t affected Massachusetts. However, I’m sure everyone’s heard (about) the measles outbreak in Texas, and as of 2/28, 159 people have been infected with measles. One pediatric patient has died, and that child was not vaccinated. Of the 159 people, only five were fully vaccinated,” she said.
She emphasized that people can receive the measles vaccine at CVS, Walgreens, and their doctor’s offices.
“Measles is highly, highly, highly contagious, much more than COVID, and much more than any other infectious disease that you heard about, Ebola, smallpox…If someone had measles and they came into this room, and two or three hours later you came into this room, you’d still be able to get measles,” she said.
Tamagna commented that measles can be very deadly, causing brain swelling, and that it is a severe illness. “It is fatal,” Tamagna said.
Board member Dr. Anthony Bakopolus asked how the flu deaths are compared to COVID-19 deaths.
Tamagna, Riley-Singh, and Public Health Director John Fralick all agreed that COVID deaths were much higher than the flu.
“This is a very unusually high flu season and greater deaths across the nation,” Tamagna said.
Riley-Singh agreed but commented that there are flu deaths every year. “It is still a potentially fatal virus. And the things we saw this year in pediatric patients were neurological,” she said. “The flu is something that affects all your systems. It affects your respiratory system, it can affect your cardiovascular…it’s multisystem, and that’s what makes it so devastating.”
