New York State follows the example of the CDC and its reporting is at least a week behind at any given time. In the week ending November 7 2009, flu activity continued to explode in upstate New York.

New York State is reporting the level of this pandemic in several ways. In labs statewide for the week ending November 7, over 4,000 specimens tested positive for the A flu virus, 99% of those testing positive for flu. At the state laboratory, 43 of 45 specimens tested positive for Swine Flu.

The state is also tracking visits to hospital emergency departments for influenza like illnesses (ILI). In the Western Region, including the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Corning and Elmira, the rate was 19.8% of all emergency department visits. This was a 10% increase from the preceding week and a new peak for the year.

The Central New York Region, including the large military base at Fort Drum and the cities of Syracuse and Binghamton had a 19.1% ILI rate. That is an 8% increase from the preceding week and a new peak for the year.

The Capital Region is the area with the highest reported ILI visit rate in the state, 22.5%. That is a 15% percent increase from the previous week and nearly double the rate from two week prior.

The Hudson Valley Region and Long Island have much lower rates though the Hudson Valley is now just above a 10% rate. During the Spring wave of Swine Flu, this region reached a peak of 14% of visits to emergency departments for ILI.

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The latest report from the New York State Department of Health on the influenza situation outside of New York City shows a dramatic increase in visits to hospital emergency rooms for flu like illnesses in Upstate New York. The October 24 report shows nearly a 50% increase in such visits from the October 17 report. The Hudson Valley and Long Island regions show a much smaller increase.

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New York regions defined by NYS Dept of Health

Swine flu continues to spread in New York State. Data compiled by the NYS Department of Health suggests that this fall’s wave of pandemic flu will be larger and affect more people than the spring wave did.

The graph above illustrates the numbers for Flu-like Illness in NYS hospital emergency departments as percentage of total emergency department visits, by Region (3 month snapshot). FLI is the primary indicator being used in NYS, and all of the testing being done demonstrates that pandemic Swine Flu is the overwhelming influenza virus making people sick.

In New York City, the situation seems to be different at this point. After large numbers of Swine Flu cases this past spring, the indicators for the illness are well within normal expectations for this time of year.

For the rest of this article, please visit the Rochester Infectious Disease Examiner.

New York State map of pandemic flu case numbers by county as of 6-26-2009. Click on the image for a larger version.

This table ranks the New York State counties by pandemic flu case count, showing those counties with 10 or more cases. Cities in red are NYC metro. Blue cities are Albany metro.

Here is the latest report from New York State about pandemic swine flu or pandemic novel H1N1. New York City and surrounding counties are in this color. Albany County and surrounding counties are in this color. The city and metro area of Elmira remains without any recorded cases, despite having a prison. Bus loads of people arrive regularly from New York City to visit inmates and it would seem to be an ideal way for the disease to travel.