February 13, 2025- Influenza levels in the United States are the highest they’ve been in 15 years as winter weather persists and the second wave of the virus causes more infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and USA Today. The most recent CDC Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report shows that 7.8% of visits to a healthcare provider were for respiratory illness, the worst since the swine flu pandemic in late 2009. According to the report, most flu statistics in the U.S. are trending up, including the positive flu infections (31.6%), the patients admitted to hospitals with the flu this week (48,661), and the number of deaths attributed to the flu this week (2%).
For the first time this flu season, overall levels of the respiratory illness have reached “very high” activity despite a decrease in COVID-19 infections in recent months, according to the CDC. The states that currently have “very high” flu levels include Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maine.