Lewis and Clark County communicable disease review shows overall drop in reports

A year-end communicable disease review for Lewis and Clark County for 2023 shows a nearly 77% drop in overall reports from 2022, but also has a few increases.

The review, released March 28 by Lewis and Clark Public Health during a Lewis and Clark City/County Board of Health meeting, shows a decrease in reportable diseases from 10,741 in 2022 to 2,498 in 2023, according to a document that is part of the board packet. That number was 7,064 in 2021.

Much of the decrease can be explained in the drop in COVID-19 cases, said Shelly Maag, Lewis and Clark Public Health nurse supervisor.

There were 1,639 reports of SARS-CoV-2 in 2023, the virus that causes COVID-19. There were 9,698 reports in 2022 and 6,669 in 2021, according to the report.

Lewis and Clark Public Health received 439 reports of influenza A, down from 614 in 2022 and 62 in 2021.

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Maag said the low number of flu cases in 2021 reflected precautions people took during COVID. She said that protective measures people took during COVID, such as masking, worked well in warding off the flu.

Maag said the county is not seeing

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