Enbal Sabag, a Nurse Practitioner, prepares a flu vaccination for a patient on the CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic on September 03, 2020 in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Flu hospitalizations have surged to a decade high within the U.S. with the Southeast the toughest region without delay.
Five out every 100,000 people within the U.S. were hospitalized with the flu in the course of the week ending Nov. 5, in response to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is the very best hospitalization rate this early within the flu season since 2010, greater than 10 years ago.
But the share of patients reporting symptoms just like the flu, a fever of 100 degrees or greater plus a sore throat or cough, is the very best in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington D.C., in response to CDC data.
Flu activity can also be very high in Arkansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Latest Mexico, Latest Jersey, Latest York City and Texas, in response to the CDC.
Greater than 6,400 people were admitted to the hospital with the flu in the course of the week ending Nov. 5, in response to data from the Health and Human Services Department. About 54% of those patients were hospitalized within the Southeast and South-Central portion of the U.S.
Just over 2,000 people were hospitalized with the flu within the region that features Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Greater than 1,400 were admitted to the hospital in Arkansas, Louisiana, Latest Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Within the Southeast, the influenza A H3N2 strain appears to be essentially the most common without delay, in response to Dr. Jose Romero, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. This strain is related to more severe illness within the elderly and young children, Romero said.
“There are also early signs of influenza causing severe illness in exactly these two groups of people this season,” Romero told reporters during a call earlier this month.
Nearly 11 out of each 100,000 seniors were hospitalized with the flu in the course of the week ending Nov. 5 while about 10 out every 100,000 kids younger than age 5 were admitted to the hospital, in response to CDC data. The hospitalization rate for these age groups is about double the national rate.
Thus far this season, not less than 2.8 million people have fallen ailing with the flu, 23,000 have been hospitalized, and 1,300 people have died from the virus, in response to CDC.
Hospitals across the U.S. are getting slammed with a surge of patients, particularly kids, sick with the flu or respiratory syncytial virus. Romero said these viruses are probably surging because immunity declined as pandemic-era public health measures crushed transmission of those viruses. May kids, as a consequence, are getting infected for the primary time.
Public health officials are also expecting one other wave of Covid infection this winter. The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the White House have called for everybody whose eligible to receive a flu shot and Covid booster ahead of the vacations.
