Although overall flu activity in the U.S. is declining, the number of pediatric deaths has continued to rise, with nine deaths reported for the week ending March 29, bringing this season’s total to 168.
Here are four things to know:
- Seasonal flu activity has been tapering off, but the CDC expects several more weeks of virus circulation, according to the agency’s latest surveillance data. Outpatient respiratory illness rates remain above the baseline for the 18th consecutive week.
- This flu season has been classified as high severity, the first designation since 2017- 2018.
- The cumulative hospitalization rate for flu is now the highest since the 2010-2011 season, with an estimated 45 million illnesses, 580,000 hospitalizations and 25,000 deaths reported.
- Among the 1,049 flu virus samples tested most recently, 88.6% were influenza A and 11.4% were influenza B.
