Staff Reporter: With a more severe flu strain circulating on top of other respiratory illnesses like COVID-19, RSV and whooping cough, the percentage of people going to their doctors for flu-like illnesses has reached the highest rate since authorities began tracking this metric in 1997, according to the latest federal figures. According to the CDC’s FluView dashboard, which tracks data on influence like illness (ILI), nearly 1 in 10 outpatient visits —8.2 percent—were for flu-like illnesses.
Last year’s flu season came close to this figure. The last time before then that this many people were going to their doctors for respiratory illness was during the swine flu pandemic of 2009.
On Monday, the CDC cut down the number of vaccines routinely recommended for all children; effective immediately, the flu shot will be removed from the childhood vaccine schedule.
According to CDC data, 42.3 percent of children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years received a flu shot as of Dec. 13, roughly 5 percentage points lower than that same time in 2024.
Flu-like illness does not automatically mean flu infections. Other respiratory diseases like COVID-19, RSV, whooping cough present similar symptoms and like the flu, these infections are vaccine-preventable.
According to the CDC, 45 states are experiencing high to very high levels of flu activity.
This flu season has been marked by the dominance of the H3N2 strain of influenza subclade K, which has been associated with severe flu seasons in the past. CDC updates indicate more than 90 percent of flu tests coming back positive for influenza A are H3N2 infections.
Region 8 of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) map —Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming — is currently reporting the highest percentage of positive flu tests, at 45.5 percent.
HHS Region 10 — Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington — is currently reporting the lowest testing positivity, at 16.9 percent.
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BP/SM
