Flu continues to go to distress throughout the US, with all however 4 states exhibiting excessive or very excessive levels of exercise as a brand new virus pressure known as subclade Ok continues to unfold.
By one other measure – visits to the physician for fever plus a cough or sore throat, that are widespread flu signs – the US is at its highest degree of respiratory sickness since not less than the 1997-98 flu season, in keeping with data printed Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is definitely a banner year,” mentioned Dr. Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “It’s the worst we’ve had in at least 20 years. We’re seeing a majority of the country is experiencing very high levels of activity, and we’re still in the thick of it.”
It’s placing to see such an intense season coming off final yr’s unhealthy flu season, she famous, as unhealthy years don’t usually happen again to again.
Rivers mentioned she’s not seeing information suggesting that the flu is peaking but however notes that the CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics is seeing indicators that the season could also be reaching its apex in phrases of depth. We could also be at or close to peak week, Rivers mentioned.
Nearly all US states had been at excessive or very excessive levels of flu exercise in the newest information. Montana and Vermont reported low levels of exercise, whereas South Dakota and West Virginia reported reasonable levels. Nevada didn’t report flu information this week however confirmed excessive levels of flu exercise in final week’s report.
In phrases of severity – how many individuals have been hospitalized by the flu – this season isn’t a standout but. The cumulative hospitalization fee is the third highest by this level in the season since 2010-11, however that would change as extra persons are contaminated.
The CDC estimates that not less than 11 million folks have had the flu this season, 120,000 have been hospitalized with it and 5,000 folks have died.
The company additionally acquired one other report of a kid’s dying, bringing the complete variety of youngsters who’ve died of influenza this season to 9.
Flu vaccinations have been dropping in youngsters, from a excessive of 53% over the 2019-20 flu season to 42% at the similar level this season.
The new flu information got here the similar day the US Department of Health and Human companies introduced a plan to switch the childhood vaccine schedule. The adjustments would suggest that children get flu vaccines after a session with a well being care supplier, a provision known as shared medical decision-making, which might make the pictures tougher for folks to entry.
“To back off on a flu recommendation in the midst of a pretty severe flu year seems to me to be pretty tone-deaf, and that’s coming off an influenza year where we had the most childhood deaths from influenza in many years,” mentioned Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Infectious Diseases.
Shots are additionally down in adults, from almost 61 million in 2019-20 to roughly 48 million this yr, CDC data shows.
Rivers mentioned she didn’t assume the lagging vaccination charges had been enjoying a job in the excessive quantity of circumstances this yr.
“The vaccine is not really expected to protect against infection and therefore transmission. It’s really just about preventing severe illness,” she mentioned.
Instead, she says, the new flu pressure – subclade Ok, which represents most viruses analyzed by labs – appears to be the cause for the depth.
She mentioned that pressure simply completely different sufficient from the flu viruses folks have been uncovered to in the previous to get round our immune defenses.
Subclade Ok started to unfold after strains had been chosen for this yr’s flu pictures, which implies the vaccines most likely provide solely partial safety in opposition to it.
NCS’s Jen Christensen contributed to this report.