Choucair spoke to the Chicago City Council's Health and Environmental Protection Committee on Wednesday. He says the influenza virus hit early this season and was a more severe strain. But the Chicago Sun-Times reports Choucair told the committee the virus is unlikely to gain strength again this season.
For example, he says the week of Jan. 20 there were seven flu-related illnesses at emergency rooms. He says the week before there were twice that many illnesses.
Chicago Department of Public Health statistics show the city had 159 intensive care unit flu cases so far this season. That's compared with 63 for all of last season.
