A look back at the last flu season...

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A look back at the last flu season...

Posted by: Maura Lerner Updated: August 30, 2012 - 2:13 PM

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After Labor Day, the annual flu-shot campaign should start climbing into high gear. In the meantime, the Minnesota Department of Health has released its official re-cap of the 2011-2012 flu season.

The big picture: it was relatively mild and late, with cases peaking in March and continuing to dribble in through May. (This doesn't count the new strain of swine-flu, which arrived in Minnesota this month.)

Here's the tally:

• 552 people were hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza (compared to
972 during the 2010-11 season).

• 91 outbreaks in schools (compared to 218 in 2010-2011).

• 41 outbreaks in nursing homes (54 in 2010-2011).

• 33 influenza-related deaths (70 in 2010-2011).