March 10, 2023 – The 2022-23 flu season lingered via the second one part of January and maximum of February on the fringe of its explained lifestyles, however it now seems to be over.
For the CDC, the annual epidemic referred to as flu season “happens when flu task is upper than a CDC-defined ‘baseline’ price.” That price, expressed as the percentage of all outpatient visits involving influenza-like sickness to well being care suppliers within the U.S. Outpatient ILI Surveillance Community, is these days 2.5%.
During the last 6 weeks, the nationwide determine has been between 2.6% (Feb. 19-25), and a couple of.7% (Jan. 15-21). In different phrases, it has lingered like no flu season has lingered ahead of, no less than no longer because the CDC started atmosphere a countrywide baseline in 2007-08.
However for the week of Feb. 26 to March 4, outpatient flu-like sickness visits represented simply 2.4% of all visits, the CDC’s Influenza Department reported, losing below the baseline for the primary time because the first week of October 2022.
Again then, the early begin to the flu season raised worry a few “tripledemic” involving respiration syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19. However by the point the flu season peaked, RSV task had already began declining and the anticipated COVID surge by no means befell, CDC information displays.
For the reason that get started of the 2022-23 season, the US has had no less than 26 million flu sicknesses, 290,000 hospitalizations, and 18,000 deaths, 125 of which have been kid deaths, the CDC estimates.
