11 Pediatric Deaths from Flu Reported Last Week in U.S.

The CDC’s FluView recap of the week ending March 7 reported that 11 U.S. children died of influenza that week. CIDRAP has the news.

Flu activity “remains elevated across the country,” but “several key indicators are slowly declining.” Test positivity for flu sat at 15.3%, which was down from 15.8% the week prior. 3.7% of healthcare visits were for respiratory illness, compared to 3.9% the previous week.

The cumulative flu hospitalization rate is the “third highest since the 2010-11 season. Children have the second-highest cumulative hospitalization rate for that age-group since 2010-11. 101 children have died of flu this season, and about 85% of those patients were unvaccinated. The CDC’s estimates are that there have been “at least 27 million flu infections, 350,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths since fall.”

The CDC also said that the “amount of [RSV] illness causing people to seek care is low.” The season may also extend into April since it started later than expected.