Juneau sees steeper and earlier flu season

Hospital infection preventionist attributes this largely to tourism; recommends residents get flu shot before exposure

The Alaska flu snapshot compares influenza from season to season. (Alaska Department of Health screenshot)

By Jasz Garrett

Juneau Independent

In the last month, Juneau has consistently had a steeper and earlier rise than the rest of the state in influenza A, according to Charlee Gribbon, the infection preventionist at Bartlett Regional Hospital. 

She said usually a rise in positive flu cases occurs in late October, making this one about a month early. 

“Juneau is a small town, but having four or five people in the hospital with flu was not expected. So that was alarming to me and unusual,” Gribbon said in an interview Thursday. 

She said the hospital had 22 admits total in September and none in October.

“You also see a subsequent rise in flu going around in the school-age kids,” she said. “But hospital-specific, I look at the positive cases and the people who are admitted. Most of them have been over 65. There’s been a couple in the 40s, age 40s, for hospitalizations with severe respiratory symptoms. Most of those people over 65 are off the cruise ships.”

She said most patients developed symptoms on the cruise ship and then went to the emergency room. Gribbon said there’s generally always a sicker set of patients near the end of the cruise ship season. Juneau’s last cruise ship departed on Oct. 6 after breaking another record. 

“You can’t really tell unless you’re asking people who they had contact with. But a cruise ship passenger comes into a local gift shop; I sometimes go downtown,” she said regarding the correlation to local cases. “We share the same air, then I go home, a couple days later, I feel sick — so yeah, if a person is in the community, they’ve had contact with our community, it’s going to make its way into the population.

However, she added “this year it’s pointed right at tourism” with the flu flying in via planes or coming in on cruise ships. 

“Sicker people later on in the season are bringing it to us when they normally wouldn’t,” she said. 

During the 2025-26 season, influenza was predominantly type A, with increasing type B activity in the first half of 2026. The recent increase in influenza activity since June has been type A. (Alaska Department of Health screenshot)

Southeast Alaska is outpacing most other regions with a case rate of 116 (new infection cases per 100,000 residents) in the week ending Oct. 3, according to the state Department of Health. Juneau’s case rate was 136.8 per 100,000 residents.

Juneau also saw a steep early rise in the 2023-2024 flu season. 

Gribbon said the hospital usually has a summer increase in patients with COVID-19, but it remained low this year at Bartlett Regional Hospital. COVID-19 activity slightly increased over the summer for the state overall but remains relatively low, according to the Department of Health respiratory virus snapshot. 

“There’s only been one or two people admitted to the hospital, and so I haven't seen a lot of COVID, not at all,” she said. 

But Gribbon said that with influenza A early and no COVID spike this summer, patterns feel disrupted. 

“I still want to have the message out there that COVID is a bad respiratory infection, and that you should still take precautions when anybody’s got the sniffles or cough or feeling bad,” Gribbon said. “They should recognize those symptoms, stay home.”

She gave prevention tips to the Juneau community, recommending residents get their flu shot now before exposure and any planned travel. 

“It’s a great idea to get your COVID shot while you’re already at the pharmacy,” she said. “For people over 65, it’s especially important because you see those people getting hospitalized and having long-term illness. It’s not just a week or two sick; it’s more like a month. So over 65 definitely first line of prevention is a flu shot. Next line of prevention is if you’re in crowded areas, wear a mask.” 

Gribbon said this year and last year track with fewer and fewer people trusting the flu vaccine. 

“Getting the flu vaccine isn't just about you. It's about your community, your kids, your workplace,” she said. “The more people that get the flu shot, the more we can control the spread of flu.”

Gribbon added that regularly washing hands, getting good sleep, staying hydrated and managing stress are also good prevention measures. She added that influenza B cases typically increase in late winter to early spring. The traditional influenza season runs from October through May.

• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or 907-723-9356.