Erie County’s number of reported flu cases is expected to decrease for the fourth straight week.

But it doesn’t mean flu season is finished, said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health for the Erie County Department of Health.

“Oh, no. We typically see flu cases through the end of May,” Berringer said. “All this tells us is that fewer people are getting tested and testing positive for flu.”

Berringer said no flu season is normal, but this season is more typical than the swine flu outbreak in fall 2009.

Not as many people are getting the flu. only 768 cases have been reported in Erie County this season compared to 1,587 cases during the outbreak.

This season also started in earnest around New Year’s Day. Flu season usually arrives here between January and March.

“This season started just a little earlier than normal and its peak was where we usually see it,” Berringer said.

Thirty-four cases were reported to the county Health Department this week through Friday at 3:30 p.m. It’s a decline from 48 cases the week before and 90 cases the week ending March 12.

Though the reported number of cases continues to drop, local physicians are still seeing patients with flu-like symptoms.

“We have seen a steady number in recent weeks,” said Tony Snow, M.D., a member of the Erie County Board of Health and medical director of Community Health Net. “It’s not as many as we had geared up for at the start of the season, but flu isn’t gone.”

Flu vaccine remains available, but demand isn’t what it was in the fall of 2009 during the swine flu outbreak, said Carla Picardo, M.D., a Health Board member and obstetrician/gynecologist with Erie Women’s Health Partners.

“We’ve seen a lot of pregnant women refuse flu shots this season,” Picardo said. “They were knocking down our doors last (season).”

DAVID BRUCE can be reached at 870-1736 or by e-mail.