A total of four correctional officers had to be hospitalized Friday after officials say they were possibly exposed to drugs.

This all occurred while they were on-duty at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Montville while they were attempting to prevent drugs from entering the building.

“Our foremost concern is the health and safety of everyone who enters our facilities…The employees were performing their duties to prevent drugs from entering the facility- actions that support the safety of staff, individuals in our custody, and the overall security of the facility,” a Department of Corrections spokesperson said.

The current condition of the four officers that are in the hospital weren’t immediately available. However, all four are being monitored. One officer is monitoring their symptoms at home.

“AFSCME Council 4 stands with our correctional officers at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center, who required hospitalization after being exposed to methamphetamines. The presence of illicit substances in correctional facilities continues to pose serious risks to the health and safety of both correctional officers and incarcerated individuals. We want to commend the administration at Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center for assisting our officers in every possible way during their response to today’s incident. This incident underscores the importance of continued efforts focused on prevention, safety, and the well-being of everyone who lives and works within our correctional facilities,” a union representative for AFSCME Council 4, which represents Connecticut correctional officers, said in a statement.

“Now is the winter of our discontent,” wrote William Shakespeare in “Richard III.” Shakespeare was obviously a birder. His Romeo and Juliet knew the difference between larks and nightingales. He certainly knew winter. And discontent.

Maine birding is still pretty good in winter. The forest and ocean host Canadian breeders fleeing the frozen north. Backyard feeders are active.

Still, as January drags on, there is a certain discontented yearning for the return of colorful songbirds from their tropical vacations.

If you’re reading this column, you’re a birder. But what species of birder are you? What species would you like to be?

Many people are content to watch birds at the feeder, even if they don’t know the identity of every bird they’re seeing. Eventually, an unfamiliar bird shows up, piquing curiosity.

Species moving northward have been tricking people for the last few years. I’m talking about you, Carolina wren and red-bellied woodpecker.

For birders in the feeder-watch group, maybe this is the year to figure out what non-feeder birds are in your backyard. It’s simple. When the songbirds return in May, just find a singing bird and look at it. They tell you where they are.

Penobscot Valley Audubon is currently planning a series of morning bird walks around the Bangor area, a good chance to visit local hot spots in May. With hardly any effort, you’ll evolve into the next species of birder.

You’ve become familiar with local birds. You know most of what you’re seeing, and you can identify a few birds by sound. I mean, c’mon, most people know a chickadee when they hear one.

This is the year to venture farther afield, and experience a few more birding opportunities that Maine has to offer.

In northern Old Town, you are exactly halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. Travel south, and deciduous trees start to dominate the forest. Head north, and conifers begin to take over. Proceed west, and elevations increase. Drive east, and the coastal plain prevails.

There’s a different set of birds in every habitat. This may be the year to explore our state from a birding perspective. It’s got secrets, and you can find them.

Perhaps you’ve done all that. You’re longing to evolve again, into a species of birder that explores beyond Maine’s borders. It’s never been easier. You can start your exploration while still on the couch.

Many states, including Maine, have established birding trails, sharing their best birding sites online for free. Many states have birding festivals. Maine has four. Look up any festival itinerary online and see where they go.

My go-to resource is eBird, another online app from the Cornell Lab. Using its many features, I can research a broad geographic area or narrow my search down to a specific hot spot. It will even tell me where to find birds I have never seen before. That’s how I know there’s a boreal owl roosting daily in a particular park in Quebec City. It’s currently the top bird on my personal must-see list.

Birders evolve. As your skills improve and your adventures expand, the act of birding itself changes. I don’t bird the way I used to. I am more aware of bird habitat preferences and behaviors. Most of the time, I don’t even need a good look to identify a bird.

That’s not necessarily a good thing. One reason I travel is to recapture the exhilaration of being a beginner, to see and hear birds I can’t identify right away. I want to struggle, for what fun is winning without effort?

Use the winter of our discontent to dream about spring. Resolve to go on a bird walk, attend a festival, explore the state.

Get familiar with your birding tools before you must use them. For instance, maybe a new camera is in your future.

I guarantee that if you don’t practice photographing chickadees right now, you won’t be able to quickly dial in all the proper settings of a modern camera when an unusual bird poses for you this summer.

That will be cause for discontent.

No information about any of the children, their hometowns or health history has been released by the state.

State health officials could not be reached for comment Friday night.

At least two of the children were younger than 2 and were in Boston, the city’s Public Health Commission said. They are the first reported flu deaths in children in Boston since 2013, officials said.

Adult deaths from influenza are up to 107, according to the health department’s weekly influenza update. Forty-five adults died during the week from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3, the dashboard shows.

National health officials say 32 children have died from from flu so far this year and estimate there have been 9,300 adult deaths.

The flu season nationally appears to be waning with two straight weeks of decline in measures of flu activity, according to the latest government data released Friday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted data — for flu activity through last week — that showed a big drop in flu hospitalizations and a smaller but significant decrease in medical office visits due to flu-like illness.

CDC officials are calling the current respiratory virus season “moderate.” But that doesn’t mean the season is over, especially for flu. Second surges in flu activity often occur after the winter holidays.

There were 470 flu-related deaths in Massachusetts during the 2024-25 flu season, up from 251 in 2023-24, according to DPH.

The flu season typically spans from October through May, but the first flu-related death in Massachusetts this year was reported in August, data shows.

This year’s children’s deaths underscore the severity of this season’s influenza outbreak, public health officials said.

In November, state health officials warned of “rising flu activity and the potential for a significant surge” this season and have urged people to get vaccinated.

Medical experts have worried about this season because it has been dominated by a kind of flu virus, called A H3N2, that historically causes the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people.

Even more concerning, about 90% of the H3N2 infections analyzed this season were a new strain that differs from the version accounted for in this year’s flu shots.

In Boston, hospitalizations almost tripled and confirmed flu cases increased by 126 percent during the week of Dec. 14 to Dec. 27, city health officials said.

Nationwide, there have been at least 18 million flu illnesses and 230,000 hospitalizations reported, according to the CDC.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.