What to Know
- Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on federal health officials to dispatch a flu surveillance team to New York as the number of cases increases
- Schumer says a CDC team could help the state "break its fever" by assisting the public health efforts already underway in the state
- According to the senator's office more than 5,200 New Yorkers have been hospitalized with the flu this season compared to 3,500 last year
Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on federal health officials to dispatch a flu surveillance team to New York as the number of cases increases.
The Democrat announced his request to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.
He says a surveillance team could help local health care workers and state health officials by studying the spread of the illness, identifying the particular strains involved, and assessing the impact on the state's overall population.
"It's like when we have a law enforcement problem and we call on the feds to beef it up and help our local police," Schumer said. "We have a health problem, and I'm calling on the feds to come and beef up our local health care system."
Schumer says a CDC team could help the state "break its fever" by assisting the public health efforts already underway in the state, like the tracking of flu strains to figure out the best way to fight the virus.
"Let's say they know a section of the Bronx is getting overwhelming flu by elderly," Schumer said. "They'll go to the elderly senior centers, they'll go to the nursing homes. They'll notify the elderly in a variety of different ways online and say, 'Here's what you should do.'"
According to the senator's office more than 5,200 New Yorkers have been hospitalized with the flu this season. That's compared to 3,500 New Yorkers hospitalized last year. And the number of new cases went up by 54 percent last week.
The CDC says this year the elderly and middle aged populations -- people ages 50 to 65 -- appear to be at greater risk than children.
