The worst of this winter's flu season appears to be behind us, according to state Department of Community Health officials as well as administrators and secretaries at Leelanau County public schools.

Suttons Bay Elementary School attendance officer Mary Dingrando said that some 90 students out of a total of about 300 were out of school on one day in late January due to illness, mostly the flu.

Dingrando’s numbers are borne out by those kept by state Community Health officials who reported last week that the percentage of visits to dozens of “sentinel” health care providers in northern Michigan peaked in late January 2008 for “influenza-like illnesses.” According to state officials the incidence of flu in northern Michigan remains “elevated” but was continuing to decrease last week.

Northport Public School secretary Ellen Gibson said a few students had been reported sick over the past few weeks, but otherwise there “haven’t been that many cases of flu reported” at Northport. She said that absentee numbers this winter have been “about the same” as last year.

Leland Public School secretary Mary Priest said that the number of students absent from class this winter due to illness appears to have been only slightly higher than normal.

“We’ve had a lot of kids out sick this winter, but not all at once,” Priest said. “I’ve noticed that in families with extra siblings, there’s been slightly more going around. If one kid catches something, the next one follows.”

Glen Lake elementary school principal Kim Wright said she agrees that student health overall has appeared to improve in recent weeks.

“It seems like we hit our peak for flu-like illnesses several weeks ago,” Wright said. “But right now, we’ve got a little stomach bug going around. And I understand that what has actually been going around this winter is a little different from what was expected.”

Indeed, state Community Health officials have acknowledged that a flu vaccine widely administered in the fall and earlier this winter that targeted one strain of flu virus may not be protecting people as well against the flu viruses that actually appeared.

But, state officials added: “It is still important to remember that even when the viruses are not closely matched that the vaccine can provide cross-protection against related strains of influenza virus, thus preventing some illnesses and flu-related complications.”