CNN
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The flu resurfaced in the United States after Thanksgiving, bringing the most severe week yet in a season that hit the county earlier. More than a third of all hospitalizations and deaths from the flu so far this season have been reported in the past week alone, and cases have risen almost as much as well.
New data The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there have been at least 13 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 7,300 deaths from influenza so far this season.
The latest update captures data through December 3 and is the first full week of data after Thanksgiving. It shows that respiratory virus activity remains elevated across the country amid a flu season that hit the country early and hard, and health officials have warned that meet indoors during the holidays may lead to an increase in cases.
All but seven states are experiencing “high” or “very high” respiratory virus activity, according to the CDC. States with moderate, low, or minimal activity are Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.
There have been about 26 flu hospitalizations per 100,000 people, a rate that hasn’t been this high at this point in the season in more than a decade.
Nearly 26,000 people were admitted to hospital with the flu last week, filling some 6,000 more beds than the previous week. About 1 in 4 lab tests came back positive for the flu last week and nearly 1 in 10 deaths were due to pneumonia, influenza or covid-19, well above the epidemic threshold of around 6%.
Walgreens data tracking prescriptions for Tamiflu and other flu treatments suggests that pockets of flu are spreading from El Paso to southwestern Virginia.
Last year’s flu season was relatively mild, but the number of flu illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths reported so far in the current season has already exceeded the total number recorded for all of last season.
Hospitals are more crowded now than during the covid-19 pandemic, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.
About 80% of hospital beds are in use across the country, increasing 8 percentage points in the past two weeks.
Hospitals have been required to report capacity information since mid-2020 as part of a federal effort to track the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hospitals have been more than 70% full for the vast majority of that time. But they’ve been 80% full at only one other point: In January, during the height of Omicron’s surge in the US, around a quarter of hospital beds were in use for covid patients in January. 19. But now, only about 6% of beds are in use for covid-19 patients, according to HHS data.
In a statement Friday, Nancy Foster, vice president of quality and patient safety for the American Hospital Association, says the influx of flu patients is a key reason why hospitals are filling up, but also dealing with RSV and illness. in people. who delayed care during the pandemic.
“Labor shortages have not only made it more difficult for hospitals, but have also decreased the number of patients who can be cared for in nursing homes and other post-acute care settings,” the statement said. “Therefore, patients are spending more time in hospitals, waiting to be discharged to the next level of care and limiting our ability to make a bed available to a patient who really needs to be hospitalized.”
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