Last year’s flu season was among the most severe since 2010, according to newly published data from the CDC.
During the 2024-25 flu season, the hospitalization rate was 127.1 per 100,000 population, according to the report, published Sept. 11. The figure is based on preliminary data from Oct. 1, 2024, through April 30, 2025. This marks the highest influenza-associated hospitalization rate since the 2010-11 season. Across all age groups, flu admission rates were 1.8 to 2.8 times higher than median historical averages since 2010.
Four more takeaways from the data:
- Overall, rates were highest among adults 75 and older at 598.8 per 100,000.
- Most patients — 89% — hospitalized with the flu last season had at least one underlying medical condition. Around 17% of those hospitalized were admitted to an ICU. Three percent of patients died while in the hospital.
- Nearly 85% of hospitalized patients received antiviral treatment. Children ages 5-17 had the lowest proportion of receiving this treatment.
- Thirty-two percent of hospitalized patients had received a flu shot.
The CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older receive an annual flu vaccine. Medical experts said the new data underscores the importance of vaccination in fending off severe illness from the common respiratory virus.
“Admissions from flu, even death from flu now, far outpace COVID,” Joseph Chang, MD, chief medical officer at Dallas-based Parkland Health, told CBS News on Sept. 10. “The public has forgotten how sick people can get, whether it’s COVID or the flu,” he said. “The flu now is really a more severe disease than most of our COVID strains.”
