NEW YORK – The flu is declining at an alarming rate in many parts of the US early and strong start to the season.
Admissions to flu hospitals have fallen for the second straight week, according to a national surveillance system operated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the percentage of doctor visits for fever and other flu-like symptoms has fallen for three straight weeks.
“It looks like we’ve seen the worst in this first wave of (flu) activity,” said Lynnette Brammer of the CDC, which leads the government agency’s tracking of the flu in the United States.
But she added there’s still a lot of flu spreading out there. CDC data shows flu activity was high or very high in 45 states last week.
And the current decline doesn’t mean the flu will recede for the rest of the winter — second flare-ups are common, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.
“Viruses love to make you look ridiculous by predicting what they’re going to do,” he said.
The annual winter flu season usually doesn’t start until December or January, but this one started in early November. It has been complicated by the simultaneous spread of other viruses, including COVID-19 and RSV.
The measurement of traffic in medical practices is based on reports of symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat, not on laboratory-confirmed diagnoses, so it covers all respiratory diseases together.
Regardless of the current mix, the overall effect wears off. Health officials said on Friday that 6.3% of outpatient doctor visits in the past week were due to flu-like illness. It was up 7.5% but has declined since Thanksgiving week.
Although flu activity remains high, officials said they’ve seen some decline in most parts of the country — including in the southeast, where the flu hit early and hard.
The CDC estimates there have been at least 190,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths from the flu so far this season. At least 17 of the deaths are children.
Flu shots are recommended for almost all Americans who are at least 6 months old or older. Health officials say it’s not too late to get vaccinated.
“It’s not over yet,” Brammer said.
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