UPDATED: Flu Has Now Killed 60 Minnesotans

UPDATED: Jan. 18, 2013:

The influenza outbreak of 2012-13 has now killed 60 Minnesotans and hospitalized 1,842, according to information released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

The department’s second weekly report on the flu outbreak more than doubles the number of reported deaths in the state; which totaled 27 last week.

The total number of deaths is now nearly as high as that of the outbreak of 2009-10, which killed 67 Minnesotans. The number of flu-related hospitalizations actually exceeds the total of 2009-10.

According to a Fox 9 news report, 88 percent of the deaths were patients age 65 or older, making up 53 of the 60 fatal cases this season. There were no deaths in the past week involving patients younger than 24.

The department’s latest report also showed that flu has struck a total of 107 skilled nursing facilities in the state, as well as 254 schools.

Jan. 12, 2013:

More than 1,000 Minnesotans have been hospitalized and more than two dozen have died, but the state's flu outbreak may get still worse before it gets better.

So says John Hick, an emergency physician at Hennepin County Medical Center, who told USA TODAY that the speed of the flu’s spread in Minnesota “has been pretty much unparalleled.”

The MDH on Thursday reported 27 deaths in the state, including 23 that officials have been able to confirm as flu-related since Dec. 30. Hick thinks the sudden uptick could be due to people returning from holiday travel and children going back to school.

"My general sense is that we have not peaked," Hick added. "We've probably got a few weeks to go on this."

That leaves workers throughout the state pondering what to do when they start feeling ill. Many go to the office even when they're sick because they are worried about losing their jobs, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employer consulting firm.

Other employees, according to an Associated Press story, report for work out of financial necessity, since roughly 40 percent of U.S. workers don't get paid if they are out sick. On the other hand, some simply have a strong work ethic and feel obligated to show up.

Flu season typically costs employers $10.4 billion for hospitalization and doctor's office visits, according to the AP report. That does not include the costs of lost productivity from absences.

Severe though it is, MDH officials said Thursday that there is no evidence the current wave of illnesses is prompted by a new virus.

"What is occurring has happened before," Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Edward Ehlinger said in a news release. "This is what influenza looks like, this is what it can do.”

As a result, mamy institutions are carrying on as normal. At Catholic Masses in Minnesota, for example, the "signs of peace" and wine distribution from communal chalices will, for now, not be altered.

Several dioceses across the country, including Boston, have told priests they can suspend or modify the actions in an effort to curb the spread of flu, but, "We have not instituted anything yet," said Jim Accurso, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. "If we do, it would be up to the discretion of individual parishes whether or not to adopt them."

The last time revisions were made to Mass because of flu concerns was in 2009, when the rapid spread of the H1N1 strain prompted many of the nations priests, including many in Minnesota, to suspend wine distribution and encourage members of the congregation to verbally give the sign of peace to one another.