Flu infections continue to rise across US
Reflecting on the situation, an emergency medicine physician involved with a national tracking program said: “I have been watching the data over the past couple of weeks coming out, and concerned about the little kids and how sick we are seeing them come in.” She described crowded emergency rooms, noting: “We didn’t even have enough places to sit people in our lobby.”
Overall, roughly 7.2% of all healthcare visits are now for flu-like illness—defined as fever with cough or sore throat—a record for this time of year. Eight additional pediatric flu deaths were reported this week, raising the total to 17 for the season. By comparison, 289 children died from influenza last year, with about 90% unvaccinated.
A health epidemiologist emphasized: “There’s a lot of influenza out there right now. It’s going to continue to be elevated for a little bit longer.” The majority of cases are linked to a new H3N2 subvariant, subclade K, which has circulated globally since summer and contributed to earlier outbreaks in countries such as Canada and Japan.
Vaccination rates remain relatively low, with roughly 43.5% of adults and 42.5% of children having received a flu shot as of late December. Health officials continue to encourage vaccination, noting that the current vaccine helps protect against severe illness even if it is not fully matched to the dominant strain.
Acting health commissioner for New York City warned: “We’re not out of the woods yet,” as the city continues to experience high levels of flu circulation despite early signs of stabilization.
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