Three pediatric flu deaths were reported to the CDC during the week of Jan. 1 — the first of such deaths so far this flu season, according to the CDC's FluView.
Two of the pediatric flu deaths were associated with influenza A strain, and the other was associated with an influenza B virus. Two of the deaths occurred during the week ending Dec. 24, 2016, while the other occurred during the week ending Dec. 31.
Despite that, the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza remained below epidemic threshold.
So far this flu season, 1,992 people have been hospitalized with the flu, and people are increasingly visiting outpatient centers for influenza-like illness. During the week of Jan. 1, the proportion of such visits was 3.2 percent, above the national baseline of 2.2 percent. Eight states have reported high influenza-like illness activity — Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and South Carolina.
Most, but not all, of the tested viruses are covered by this year's flu vaccine — approximately 96 percent of all antigenically characterized influenza A viruses and 94.9 percent of influenza B viruses were covered in the Northern Hemisphere vaccine.
Additionally, none of the strains circulating this season have showed resistance to antivirals used to treat the flu.