The nation’s flu activity has continued its steady rise, with 44 states reporting high or very high levels of illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Outpatient visits for flulike illness have been above the national baseline for nine weeks in a row. Nearly all samples that tested positive for flu at public health labs were influenza A, with subtyped samples split evenly between H3N2 and 2009 H1N1 strains.
Pediatric flu deaths also increased, with 16 more reported cases, pushing the season’s total to 47. All the new cases involved influenza A, with 13 of them subtyped as either H1N1 or H3N2. Flu deaths overall remained steady, accounting for 1.6% of all deaths last week.
Emergency department (ED) visits for flu are at the very high level and increasing across age groups, making up 7% of all ED visits. Hospitalizations for flu are also elevated and rising in all age groups. In contrast, COVID-19 wastewater detections returned to the medium category, while test positivity remained steady at 5.4%.
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/us-flu-activity-climbs-more-deaths-kids