Partial CDC data suggest that influenza deaths may have already reached as high as 2% of deaths for the week ending on Feb. 1, also surpassing COVID-19 mortality nationwide which was holding at around 1.5%. More complete data is expected to be published Friday.

This year’s flu season has reached a new milestone, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the past few weeks. Flu deaths are outpacing COVID-19 deaths for the first time since the start of the pandemic,

With flu activity last week higher than or similar to the highest point of the season and hospitalizations and deaths on the rise, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that it now classified the season as high severity for all age-groups for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

For the first time the pandemic began, deaths from influenza have outpaced deaths from COVID-19 in 22 states, plus New York City and Washington, D.C. Dr. Jon LaPook has the latest numbers.

During the first years of the COVID pandemic, elevated precautions mostly suppressed the perennial flu outbreaks that typically kill between 10,000 and 50,000 people annually in the United States.

Weekly numbers show that 2% of U.S. deaths for week 5 were due to the flu. COVID was responsible for 1.5% of deaths in the nation, the numbers show.

COVID-19, according to CDC data. Rates of influenza hospitalizations are more than three times higher than COVID-19 hospitalizations amid this season's record wave of flu infections. Partial CDC data suggest that influenza deaths may have already reached as high as 2% of deaths for the week ending on Feb.

A surge in flu cases has doctors’ offices and hospitals packed across the state. Physicians say are seeing a jump in coughing, sneezing, and other flu symptoms for the second time this season. Health officials are saying we are on track to seeing one of the worst flu seasons in 15 years.