Flu is surging across the United States amid a busy holiday travel time.
The state of New York is among those most heavily hit. For the week ending Dec. 20, the state of New York reported its highest number of positive flu cases (71,123) ever recorded in a single week, according to the New York State Department of Health. That represented an increase of 38% over the previous week, the department said.
New York is one of 14 states that have reported high or very high activity of outpatient visits to healthcare providers for influenza-like illnesses, for the week ending Dec. 13, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The District of Columbia, New York City and Puerto Rico have also registered high or very high flu-like cases, the agency says.
As of Dec. 16, flu infections were on the rise, or likely growing, in 47 states, with cases only declining in Hawaii, the CDC projected.
The increase in seasonal flu activity across the United States is similar to several past seasons, the CDC says. But it comes along with a new flu strain – subclade K, a variation of the influenza A(H3N2) virus – responsible for flu outbreaks in Japan, the U.K. and Canada. Health officials have been concerned the current flu vaccine may be a mismatch to the new variant, but are confident it has protection against serious illness.
