Feb. 8 (UPI) — U.S. medical services providers are seeing the greatest numbers of flu cases since the 2009-2010 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday.
For the week ending on Feb. 1, 8% of all hospital emergency department visits were due to the flu, which is more than double the 3.2% posted at the same time a year ago, the CDC reported.
“Seasonal influenza activity remains elevated and continues to increase across the country” for the week ending Feb. 1, CDC officials said.
So far for the flu season, the CDC estimates at least 24 million have taken ill, resulting in 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths from the flu.
Hospitals throughout the United States admitted 48,661 patients with influenza and 2% of deaths were attributed to influenza, including many children.
Children are especially vulnerable to the flu and accounted for 10 influenza deaths during the week ending Feb. 1, raising the current flu season’s total of pediatric deaths to 57.
“Given the sharp rise [of flu cases], particularly among young children and in key regions like New York City, this is a stark reminder of how unpredictable flu seasons can be,” Dr. John Brownstein of the Boston Children’s Hospital told ABC News.
The CDC recommends everyone who is age 6 months and older be vaccinated for the flu to help address the outbreak that commonly occurs during the fall and winter months.
“There are prescription flu antiviral drugs that can treat flu illnesses,” CDC officials said. “Those should be started as early as possible and are especially important for patients at higher risk of severe illness.”
The outbreak is occurring despite a continued decline in COVID-19 cases, which decreased to 4.9% of positive tests while two common strains of influenza accounted for 31.6% positive tests.
Those strains are the H1N1 and H3N2 flu viruses with 4,264 and 113 cases reported, respectively, for each strain, during the weekending Feb. 1.
CDC data show very high levels of outbreaks in several states, which mostly are located in the South, Midwest and Northeast United States, while western states generally reported moderate to minimal outbreak levels.
Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida are among states ranked as having very high acute respiratory illness levels, which includes emergency room visits for influenza, COVID-19, respiratory viruses and the common cold.
Wisconsin is ranked very high while many other Midwestern states are ranked as having high levels of flu cases.
Other states with very high levels are Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire.
Maine is the only state east of the Mississippi with a low level of influenza cases. All others are rated as high or very high. The CDC has no data for Wyoming and Arkansas.
