Flu Map Shows Highest Levels Across US

Washington, Oregon, Nebraska and Kansas are among the states reporting people with the highest number of influenza-like illness (ILI) symptoms, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) map shows.

The CDC has released new data in its Influenza Surveillance Report for the week ending on February 8.

Why It Matters

Seasonal influenza has continued to increase across the country, reaching unprecedented intensity and marking the most severe flu season in at least 15 years, according to the CDC.

What To Know

The CDC's Influenza Surveillance Report map monitors visits to the doctor for ILI symptoms such as a fever, cough or sore throat and does not necessarily correlate to laboratory-confirmed influenza cases. This is because the map may include visits for other respiratory viruses.

In its most recent one, the states that have seen the most doctor visits (rated "very high" by the CDC) in the week ending February 8 include Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Virginia.

It also includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York City, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Maine.

The next category ("high") includes Minnesota, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Delaware, Arizona, Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Utah and North Dakota are under the "moderate" category, while Alaska and the Virgin Islands are included in the "low" category and the "minimal" tier includes Montana and Hawaii.

During the week ending on February 8, there were a total of 4,214 viruses reported by public health laboratories, a drop on the 4,377 reported in the week ending February 1.

"Outpatient respiratory illness is stable compared to last week, but is higher than it has been all season and is above the baseline nationally for the 11th consecutive week," the CDC said.

What People Are Saying

The CDC says on its website: "Nationally, seasonal influenza activity remains elevated and is higher than or similar to the highest it has been all season for each indicator reported in FluView.

"In addition, the percent[age] of specimens testing positive for influenza at clinical labs and the rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza associated hospitalizations reported to FluSurv-NET are higher than any peak week going back to the 2015-2016 and 2010-2011 seasons, respectively."

What Happens Next

Health officials are monitoring two dominant strains of seasonal flu—Type A H1N1 and Type A H3N2—that are causing most of the illnesses. The CDC recommends that everyone above the age of 6 months gets the annual influenza vaccine.