Because the U.S. enters the vacation season, there may be fear that the flu situation could get more alarming in the approaching weeks.
Based on the most recent data from the Health and Human Services Department, flu hospitalizations have increased by nearly 30% in per week. Greater than 11,200 people were hospitalized as a result of the flu virus within the week ending Nov. 19, CNBC reported Monday.
In comparison with the previous week which recorded about 8,700 hospitalizations, there’s been an enormous jump in cases, leading experts to imagine that the spread of the respiratory illness has remained high across the country.
Flu season began sooner than usual this yr, taking a toll on the emergency departments and hospitals amid the continued COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, flu activity typically picked up after Thanksgiving. But hospitalizations were already significantly high in early November this time around.
“The indisputable fact that we’re already at this high level going into the vacation season makes me nervous,” microbiologist and flu expert on the Penn Institute for Immunology Scott Hensley told the outlet.
As early as October, flu activity within the country already set a record. About 11 people out of 100,000 have been hospitalized, the very best level recorded in a decade.
In keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 35 states have been experiencing high or very high flu activity. Only 6 states were reporting low activity, and most were within the north.
This flu season alone, greater than 6.2 million people have fallen unwell as a result of the influenza viruses, around 53,000 have been hospitalized, and a pair of,900 have reportedly died.
As flu activity continues to climb higher, public health experts worry that more pediatric deaths could possibly be reported in the approaching weeks. Only in the near past, five more pediatric cases reportedly died, bringing the season’s total to 12, said the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
The pediatric deaths reportedly occurred between early October and mid-November. The entire cases involved influenza A. H1Na and H3N2 were the 2 subtypes reported among the many pediatric deaths.
Though vaccine efficacy data has not been published yet, experts said they worked well with the newer strains. Hence, they encouraged everyone to get vaccinated to remain protected for the rest of the flu season.
“From what we will see, it looks just like the vaccines are pretty darn good matches to what’s circulating. If there’s ever a time to get vaccinated, that is the yr to do it,” Hensley said.