Flu Season Starts Early: CDC Data Show 3,334 Hospitalizations in One Week, Nearly Triple in a Month
The U.S. flu season is off to an early start. Weekly lab-confirmed flu hospitalizations nearly tripled between early September and early October, according to CDC data reported by Becker's Hospital Review on Oct. 12. Hospitals reported 3,334 flu admissions in the week ending Oct. 3, up from 2,572 the week before and 1,133 in the week ending Sept. 5. The national admission rate rose to 1.0 per 100,000 people, from 0.3 in early September.
Adults 65 and older had the highest admission rate at 3.3 per 100,000, followed by adults ages 50 to 64 at 0.9 and children ages 0 to 4 at 0.8, with rates rising in both the oldest and youngest groups.
The West is furthest ahead. Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that California has a full-on flu epidemic, with test positivity there running about 9.5% — close to last season's peak of about 11.5% and still very early in the season — matching CDC data for HHS Region 9 (Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada), while national positivity was 3.6%. He put the hospitalization rate at about 1.1 per 100,000, compared with about 0.2 at this point last year, and said cases are also rising in the South. The CDC said national activity is higher than typically observed at this time of year but remains within expected seasonal variation.
(Source: Becker's Hospital Review; CDC data)
Source: Becker's Hospital Review; CDC data
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 医护人员为水兵接种流感疫苗，公有领域（美国海军照片，Wikimedia Commons）
