SAUGUS — Public Health Nurse Teresa Riley-Singh informed residents that the flu peaked early in Saugus, leading to a rise in hospitalizations at the end of 2025.
“There’s a few things that I wanted to discuss. In December, number one is influenza. We had in Saugus, 112 cases and just to kind of put that in perspective, we had six cases last month (November). Last December, we had 48 cases,” she said.
Riley-Singh noted that this was a very high number and that all of Massachusetts and the whole of the United States are seeing an increase.
“Last year, we kind of peaked in February, so it’s much earlier this year. Hopefully, the numbers will stop going down, but there is a chance that it could continue rising,” she said.
Riley-Singh said that there are new at-home testing kits for the flu being sold with COVID-19 testing kits.
“It’s really great because when you do have the flu and you’re really sick, the last thing that you want to do is actually go out and go to the doctors, so you can get tested at home,” she said.
She recommended that if people test positive at home, they should call their doctors to update their charts and give them medical advice.
“There is medication for flu for those, especially those who are 60 and older,” she said.
Riley-Singh noted that in 2025, Massachusetts had 30 flu-related deaths, 11 of which occurred in the last week of December. In that last week, she said that hospitalizations from influenza rose from 5% to 9%.
“What you can do is please get your flu shot. (Its) still available. We have some at the Public Health Department, Walgreens, or CVS. It’s pretty easy to get. Wash your hands, especially before eating or touching your face, and if you’re sick, please stay home. Take the day. If you do get tested, please call your doctor and ask what type of treatment you should have,” she said.
Riley-Singh also mentioned that the town had 49 COVID-19 cases, two tuberculosis cases, nine food-borne illnesses, none of which originated in Saugus, two hepatitis C cases, and three hepatitis B cases. She also said there was a false alarm about a possible mumps case.
