Just 2 percent of more than 69,000 specimens tested for influenza at clinical laboratories in the U.S. were positive for the week ending Jan. 28, according to the CDC's latest FluView report. During the height of the flu outbreak in early December, the positivity rate surpassed 25 percent.
For weeks, flu metrics have been declining across most of the country. The CDC unveiled two data dashboards Jan. 17 that track emergency department visits and hospitalizations for COVID, flu and respiratory syncytial virus. Those dashboards indicate the tripledemic peaked in early December.
Five more FluView updates:
1. Oklahoma was the only state to report very high flu activity for the week ending Jan. 28. New York City, New Mexico and Puerto Rico reported high levels. The majority of the nation reported minimal levels of activity.
2. Just over 2,600 patients with lab-confirmed flu were admitted to a hospital for the week ending Jan. 28, down about 5 percent from the week prior.
3. Six influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported for the week ending Jan. 28, with a total of 97 pediatric flu deaths in the 2022-23 season.
4. About 2.6 percent of outpatient visits were for influenza-like illness — meaning fever plus cough or sore throat, not lab-confirmed flu — for the week ending Jan. 28, the same as the week prior, which marked the eighth straight week of decline.
5. The CDC estimates there have been at least 25 million flu cases, 280,000 hospitalizations and 17,000 deaths so far this season.