How bad is the flu in Oklahoma this year? CDC map looks grim

(NEXSTAR) – Unless you reside in considered one of 4 states, the flu scenario looks to be rising dire close to you.

Nearly each state is reporting “high” or “very high” flu exercise, in keeping with monitoring by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Only 4 states – Alaska, Michigan, New Hampshire and Vermont – have “low” or “minimal” exercise. Two extra states, Hawaii and West Virginia, have a “moderate” degree of influenza infections.

As of Friday, most states have been in the worst class for flu exercise, “very high.” In latest weeks, the worst flu activity has largely been in the South. But as of late November, states throughout the map (California, Colorado, Kentucky, New Mexico, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington) have been in the most alarming tier.

(See the place your state stands on the map beneath.)

More than 25% of people that examined for flu this week have been optimistic, in keeping with outcomes reported to the CDC.

People aren’t simply getting sick with the virus – many are ending up in the hospital. Nearly 20,000 folks have been admitted to the hospital with influenza final week. The variety of flu-related hospital admissions “almost doubled” in comparison with the week earlier than, the CDC mentioned.

The variety of hospitalizations we’ve seen thus far this yr is already increased than any flu season since 2010-2011.

Fourteen kids have died thus far this season.

The map, up to date Friday, incorporates knowledge collected via the Thanksgiving week.

The CDC map isn’t primarily based on confirmed influenza lab checks however slightly tracks the place persons are going to the physician with flu-like signs (respiratory sickness and fever, plus a cough or sore throat). Because of that, the map “may capture patient visits due to other respiratory pathogens that cause similar symptoms,” the company explains.

While COVID-19 circumstances have remained fairly flat over the previous a number of weeks, each the flu and RSV have unfold broadly.

Dr. Andrew Pekosz, a virologist and professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, believes the U.S. is nonetheless in the “early stages” of a surge in influenza circumstances, he told Nexstar.

“For influenza, we are still on the upside of the curve, and we really have no idea what the peak number of cases will be and when that will happen,” he mentioned.

RSV numbers could also be hitting a plateau, he mentioned, “but they’re still at a very high level. So the burden of RSV is still great, but we may be closer to the peak there than we are with flu.”

All three viral sicknesses — COVID, influenza and RSV — have the potential to extend after the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, just because persons are getting collectively extra typically and in greater teams.