Flu Season Ramps Up For Third Straight Week
Saturday, January 27th, 2018 -- 9:26 AM
(AP) -Sick with the flu? You've got a lot of company.The flu blanketed the U.S. again last week for the third straight week. Only Hawaii has been spared. Last week, 1 in 15 doctor visits were for symptoms of the flu. That's the highest level since the swine flu pandemic in 2009. The government doesn't track every flu case but comes up with estimates; one measure is how many people seek medical care for fever, cough, aches and other flu symptoms. Flu is widespread in every state except Hawaii, and 39 states reported high flu traffic for doctors last week, up from 32.
At this rate, by the end of the season somewhere around 34 million Americans will have gotten sick from the flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Some good news: Hospital stays and deaths from the flu among the elderly so far haven't been as high as in some other recent flu seasons. However, hospitalization rates for people 50 to 64 - baby boomers, mostly - has been unusually high, CDC officials said in the report, which covers the week ending Jan. 20.
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