Historically low flue cases

[kakatiya]

While the flu season is far from over and flu cases have been reported year-round in the United States in the past, during a typical year, influenza cases would likely ramp up during the fall and winter, peaking in February. Not this year.

 

"We haven’t picked up any outbreaks of influenza or anything really, it’s just historically low,” Lynette Brammer, who leads the domestic influenza team for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told AccuWeather. Brammer's team tracks flu cases each year in its weekly report, Flu View.

 

In the below graphic, the CDC compares flu cases over the past several years, and influenza in the 2020-21 season, represented on the red line with black triangles, is almost non-existent.

 

 

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

 

“We’re looking very hard for flu," Brammer told AccuWeather. "We’re just not finding it."

 

In fact, many people have reported not feeling any flu or cold symptoms.

 

Brammer said the lack of flu is not only good news for individual health, but considering the number of people hospitalized for influenza each year, it's a huge break for hospitals inundated with COVID-19 patients.