The new variant of Influenza A, or H3N2, has been given the nickname 'super flu.' The fast-spreading virus has caused hospitalizations to nearly double in a week, the CDC reported.

The new variant of Influenza A, or H3N2, has been given the nickname ‘super flu.’ The fast-spreading virus has caused hospitalizations to nearly double in a week, the CDC reported.

Flu is surging across the U.S., sending thousands more people to the hospital and hitting young children especially hard, as doctors warn the season still has a long way to go.

Flu activity is at “high” or “very high” levels in 32 states and jurisdictions, based on data from the week ending Dec. 20, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday — up from 17 the week before. At least 7.5 million have gotten sick since the season began in October.

Hospitalizations nearly doubled in a single week, rising to 19,053, up from 9,944 the week prior, according to the CDC. About 3,100 people have died from flu this season. The number of pediatric deaths rose to five, up from two the week before.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
    26·
    2 days ago

    I’m just going to copy over my comment from a different thread (all the below is that comment):

    I was saying weeks ago that this was going to be a bad flu season in the US, because flu cases in China , Japan , Canada and the UK were all skyrocketing.

    And three weeks ago WHO said

    Although global activity remains within expected seasonal ranges, early increases and higher activity than typical at this time of year have been observed in some regions. […] Since August 2025, there has been a rapid increase of [new variant] viruses detected from several countries

    So even if you don’t trust the CDC (and I would argue that you might not be able to trust the heads of CDC and FDA but most of the workers believe in their public health missions), it’s well within plausibility that flu cases are skyrocketing across the US.

    • theherk@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 day ago

      Thanks for the added information. I want to clarify, I wasn’t disputing anything posted or saying I didn’t trust; just that without annual context I wasn’t able to glean much actual trend information.

      • aramis87@fedia.io
        2·
        1 day ago

        Sorry, I was tired when I pasted yesterday. The comment that I copied into my reply was in response to someone saying that they didn’t trust the CDC and FDA flu warnings because they were all trumpian now; that part of my comment was directed at them and was included in the paste. I tried to indicate that when I said “all the below is my other comment” but I was tired and I guess I didn’t indicate well enough. Sorry for the confusion.