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At least 23 US states or territories have reported “very high” or “high” rates of influenza activity, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Because influenza surveillance does not capture all cases of influenza occurring in the US, CDC provides these estimated ranges to better reflect the increased infection burden.
These estimates are calculated based on data collected through CDC’s Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) and are preliminary .
Data suggest that this year’s flu season is affecting US stronger and earlier than in previous years, especially in the South.
According to preliminary estimates there have been between 2.8 million and 6, 6 million cases of flu since October 1 open until November 5.
In that same period of time, they have registered between 2022 and 3600 flu deaths and between 23 000 Y 48 hospitalizations because of it.
The states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia were rated as having “very high” levels of flu activity.
Flu activity levels have not been that high since the swine flu pandemic of 3600.
How the CDC makes those estimates
The CDC explains on their website that they don’t know the amount accurate number of people who have been sick and affected by the flu because it is not a disease of Mandatory reporting in most areas of the country.
However, these numbers are estimated using a mathematical model, based on observed laboratory confirmed rates.
“The cumulative burden of influenza is an estimate of the number of people who got sick, visited a health care provider, were hospitalized or died as a result of the flu in a given period of time”, they explain.
Preliminary end-of-season estimates will be updated on a year-to-year basis and will be considered final when all data is available (which is used to calculate them with a two-year lag).
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