Three states reported very high flu activity for the week ending Jan. 8, according to the agency's most recent FluView report.
New Mexico, North Dakota and Virginia reported very high flu activity, the highest level as categorized by the CDC. Eight states reported very high flu activity the week before.
Seventeen states reported high flu activity, 13 reported moderate activity and five reported low activity. Twelve states reported minimal flu activity, while Washington, D.C., reported insufficient data.
Six other CDC updates:
1. The percentage of visits to an outpatient provider for respiratory illness was 4.3 percent for the week ending Jan. 8, down from 4.8 percent the previous week and above the national baseline of 2.5 percent.
2. For the week ending Jan. 8, 1,804 lab-confirmed flu patients were hospitalized, down from the week prior. The cumulative hospitalization rate was 3.4 per 100,000 population, up from 2.6 per 100,000 the prior week.
3. Of all specimens tested in a clinical lab, 2.2 percent were positive for flu virus for the week ending Jan. 1, down from 3.8 percent the previous week.
4. Nationwide, 1.3 percent of long-term care facilities reported more than one flu-positive test among residents for the week, the same as the previous week.
5. The national flu, pneumonia and/or COVID-19 mortality rate is 23.1 percent, which sits above the epidemic threshold of 7 percent. Among the 4,417 deaths reported for the week, 3,567 had COVID-19 listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate.
6. One flu-associated pediatric death was reported to the CDC. The death occurred during the week ending Dec. 25, and brings the total number of pediatric deaths recorded this flu season to three thus far.