As flu activity continues its descent from an unusually early and strong season, the past week saw a flu hospitalization rate four times higher than the same week each year since 2010, according to the CDC's FluView report.
Here are six other things to know:
1. Flu activity is high but is falling in most areas.
2. 6.1 percent of visits to a healthcare provider were for respiratory illness.
3. More than 18,000 people were hospitalized for flu in the week ending Dec. 24.
4. Fourteen pediatric deaths were recorded this week, totaling up this season's pediatric death rate to 61.
5. Of influenza A viruses detected and subtyped this week, 83 percent were influenza A(H3N2) and 17 percent were influenza A(H1N1).
6. So far this season, there have been at least 20 million illnesses, 210,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths from the flu.