Washington, D.C., is currently reporting "very high" flu activity, the highest designation of five levels, according to new data from the CDC's FluView report published Oct. 15.
Four other updates:
1. Washington, D.C., was the only territory to report very high levels of flu activity for the week ending Oct. 9. No states reported high activity, while one state — New Mexico — reported moderate flu activity. Five states — Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Virginia — reported low flu activity. The remaining states reported minimal flu activity.
2. The percentage of visits to an outpatient provider for flu-like illness was 1.9 percent for the week ending Oct. 9, below the national baseline of 2.5 percent. The figure is the same as the week before.
3. No new pediatric flu deaths were reported for the week ending Oct. 9. In total, one pediatric flu death was recorded last flu season.
4. The national flu, pneumonia and/or COVID-19 mortality rate is 18 percent, which sits above the epidemic threshold of 5.7 percent. Among the 3,102 deaths reported for the week, 2,430 had COVID-19 listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate.