NEW YORK —
The worst of the flu season appears to be over.
The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.
The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
“It’s likely that the worst of the current flu season is over,” CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.
But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.
For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor’s offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.
Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it’s down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.
“There’s no question that we’re seeing a decline,” she said.
In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.
Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications
But back then, that year’s flu vaccine wasn’t made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year’s vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.
So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.
Like others, Lehigh Valley’s Burger was cautious about making predictions. “I’m not certain we’re completely out of the woods,” with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.
World, nation, state
After early start, worst of flu season may be over
- World, nation, state
-
-
Distraught mom becomes face of Oklahoma storm
A massive tornado was carving its way through town. There was no time to hesitate. LaTisha Garcia had to get to her children.
-
Man shot by FBI had spoken with bombing suspect
A Chechen immigrant shot to death in central Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent had several ties to that of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects who authorities were questioning him about at the time.
-
Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty; retrial set
Jurors who spent five months determining Jodi Arias’ fate couldn’t decide whether she should get life in prison or die for murdering her boyfriend, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case of sex, lies and violence to another 12 people.
-
Big U.S. cities showing strong growth
Urban renewal? New census estimates show that most of the nation’s largest cities further enhanced their allure last year, posting strong population growth for a second straight year.
-
Cleveland kidnap case hero gets year of free McDonald’s
The man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for years in a Cleveland house will get free McDonald’s for the next year, a company spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.
-
Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay youth
The Boy Scouts of America threw open its ranks Thursday to gay Scouts but not gay Scout leaders — a fiercely contested compromise that some warned could fracture the organization and lead to mass defections of members and donors.
-
Ohio injection well operator fights state action
A northeast Ohio injection-well operator whose former senior officer faces federal charges of violating the Clean Water Act told a state regulatory panel Wednesday that the company can’t be blamed for the acts of “a bad person.”
-
Man shot to death while questioned in Boston probe
A Chechen immigrant was shot to death by authorities early Wednesday after he turned violent while being questioned about his ties to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, officials said.
-
Jury in Arias trial adjourns after impasse
Jurors in the Jodi Arias murder trial said Wednesday they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or death for killing her one-time boyfriend, prompting the judge to instruct them to keep trying.
-
More than 50 hurt when Indiana school buses have chain-reaction crash
A school bus slammed into the back of another one Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving four buses in northern Indiana, leaving about 50 middle and high students with non-serious injuries and one driver seriously injured.
- More World, nation, state Headlines
-
