Four DeKalb County residents have been hospitalized and placed in intensive care units because of the flu since the beginning of December, DeKalb County health officials have said.

In a provided statement, Stacia Runge, the DeKalb County Health Department’s director of community health and prevention, said three DeKalb County residents were admitted to the ICU in December, and another was admitted after the start of the new year.

The Illinois Department of Public Health on Jan. 5 reported that an Illinois child died from the flu – the state’s first influenza death in a child this respiratory illness season.

Flu is on the rise in Illinois, the nation and DeKalb County. The spread of influenza – the virus that causes the flu – in Illinois has climbed to the highest category used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to describe viral activity.

Dr. Santina Wheat, program director of the McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, said the current flu season could be worse – at least in some ways – than last year’s.

“We did see a pretty bad flu season last year,” Wheat said. “Unfortunately, we are seeing the same thing this year, and maybe with higher numbers, actually.”

Before the new year began, the percentage of hospital admissions for the flu in the Rockford and West Chicago health regions had hit seasonal peaks above the high-water marks of the 2024-2025 flu season, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Seasonal Respiratory Illness Dashboard.

The flu, a seasonal respiratory illness, was responsible for 8.3% of all hospital admissions in the Rockford health region during the final full week of 2025, which ended Dec. 27, according to the dashboard.

DeKalb County, as well as Boone, Carroll, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties, are included in the Rockford health region.

DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties are organized into the West Chicago health region. In that region, between Dec. 21 and Dec. 27, 6.3% of hospital admissions were for the flu, state data shows.

Children at higher risk for more serious flu cases

Children are among those most likely to need emergency care for the flu, state data shows. Wheat, a mother herself, said she encourages her children to follow habits that may reduce contact with the virus, which is spread through respiratory droplets.

She said she makes sure her children wash their hands often and encourages them to touch high-contact areas, such as doorknobs, with a sleeve or paper towel. Teaching children not to habitually touch their faces is another way that parents can help keep their children safe, Wheat said.

Most students from grade school to college did not attend class over the final 11 days of 2025, when northern Illinois counties saw an increase in flu-related emergency room visits and hospital admissions.

However, that changed with the new year.

Stephanie Condon, DeKalb School District 428’s health services manager, said she hasn’t noticed an uptick in flu activity in DeKalb schools since students returned to classes this week after the holiday break.

“The timing is off because we got back from [winter] break, so kids are just coming back,” Condon said. “They haven’t really noticed a difference yet. I know there’s a lot of stuff in the news about flu on the rise, but we haven’t really noticed a huge uptick or anything.”

Condon said it’s tough to gauge why students may be out of school at times.

“We don’t always know,” Condon said. “People don’t call in their students, or they don’t have to tell us they have the flu. Maybe they’re sick, but we don’t know why.”

Wheat may know why. She said that from her view as a doctor, this year’s flu strain has been more contagious but less likely to cause severe illness.

“Last year, some of the patients that I saw were maybe sicker than some of the patients I’m seeing this year, but I feel like I’m seeing many more that have the flu this year,” Wheat said. “And still, some of them are quite sick.”

She said that people with chronic illnesses or health conditions are more likely to get a worse case of the flu than someone who is healthy.

What symptoms should you watch for?

Compared with last winter, Wheat said she isn’t seeing a difference in flu symptoms. She said the classic hallmarks of the flu remain the same:

• fever
• fatigue and low energy
• nausea
• vomitting
• diarrhea
• runny nose
• sore throat

What if I get the flu?

What should you do if you suspect you have the flu? Wheat said it depends on what your general health status is.

“If you are the very young or the very old, then I recommend that you reach out to your physician right away because we do have some treatments that could help,” Wheat said. “We do have antivirals that can shorten the length of the illness and also help prevent the spread to other people.”

For anyone older than 1, honey can help soothe a sore throat and cough, and nasal saline sprays can be used to treat runny noses and congestion, Wheat said. She also recommended ibuprofen and acetaminophen to help with fevers and muscle aches.

Aside from at-home medications and seeing a physician when needed, Wheat said staying home and resting can help someone recover from the flu.

Anything parents should know?

That messaging is similar to what Condon said the DeKalb school district recommends. She said DeKalb schools advise people to stay home if they’re not feeling well.

“Especially if they have a fever,” Condon said. “They want to stay home 24 hours fever-free without taking Tylenol or ibuprofen. ... If they come off being sick, they can always wear a mask if they choose to do so.”

While flu activity is considered very high across Illinois, the IDPH also is reporting that less than 25% of all Illinoisans have received a flu vaccine for the current respiratory illness season. The goal is to have 70% of the state’s population vaccinated for the flu, according to an Influenza Vaccination Coverage Dashboard created by the IDPH.

Vaccination rates by county

Here are the flu vaccination rate for northern Illinois counties, according to the IDPH.

• Boone County: 20.1%
• Carroll County: 13.7%
• DeKalb County: 21.9%
• DuPage: 29.4%
• Grundy: 17.9%
• Jo Davies County: 17.3%
• Kane County: 24.7%
• Kankakee County: 17.2%
• Kendall County: 23.6%
• Lake County: 29.1%
• Lee County: 17.4%
• McHenry County: 24.8%
• Ogle County: 19.8%
• Stephenson County: 19.2%
• Will County: 22.2%
• Winnebago County: 20.8%
• Whiteside County: 14.3%

State data shows that the December statewide flu vaccination rate (24.4%) was the lowest it has been for the month of December since at least 2019.

“Vaccination rates are not what they have sometimes been in the past, and that can be contributing to the spread,” Wheat said. “The flu vaccine doesn’t necessarily prevent you always from getting the disease, but it does help you get not as serious of a disease.”

Wheat said that the current dominant flu strain is more contagious than previous strains, regardless of vaccination rates.

Not too late to get vaccinated

Despite being almost halfway through the typical flu season, Wheat said someone who hasn’t received an up-to-date flu shot still should consider getting one. She recommends a yearly flu shot to her patients from the fall until March.

“I still think it’s a great time to get a flu shot,” Wheat said. “We have yet to see influenza B come through with the high numbers, and our vaccines usually try to cover both of them. And we still have a long time left in flu season.”

On Monday, federal health officials reduced the number of vaccines recommended for American children. The flu, along with hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some types of meningitis, respiratory syncytial virus and rotavirus, is no longer on the list of diseases the CDC recommends all children get vaccinated against.

Despite the updated recommendations, Illinois parents won’t be hamstrung from getting their children a flu vaccine. In a provided statement, Runge said state health officials have not changed their recommendations.

“IDPH remains aligned with the current recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians,” Runge said in a provided statement.

Wheat said she will continue to recommend the flu shot for all members of the families she sees as a physician.

“That has not changed for us,” Wheat said. “As a family physician, I talk to my patients not only about them, but their entire household. And so I’ll often talk to them about who else is in their household, who else are they visiting, and thinking about their risk to all of those people. And, so often, getting a vaccine is the right choice for many of them.”