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Flu is down in U.S., including Pa., N.J., according to CDC report

Rates are down, but still high in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

This Jan. 23, 2020 file photo shows a patient receiving a flu vaccination in Mesquite, Texas. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the vaccine has been more than 50% effective in preventing flu illness severe enough to send a child to the doctor's office.
This Jan. 23, 2020 file photo shows a patient receiving a flu vaccination in Mesquite, Texas. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the vaccine has been more than 50% effective in preventing flu illness severe enough to send a child to the doctor's office.Read moreLM Otero / AP
    by Stacey Burling
    Updated 
    Published 

As coronavirus has gained a foothold, this year’s nasty flu season seems to be waning.

In its weekly report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said key indicators of flu activity fell for the third week in a row. Activity remains high, though, in much of the nation, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Pennsylvania reports through the last week of February also showed measures of flu falling. As of Friday afternoon, New Jersey’s health department had only posted reports through Feb. 22, but there were signs of decline there as well.

The number of states and other jurisdictions reporting high flu activity declined from 45 the previous week to 42 last week.

The CDC said that indicators of virus severity such as deaths and hospitalizations remained moderate to low, although hospitalization rates have been high this year for children and young adults. The rate for children up to age 4 are the highest the CDC has on record for this point in the season.

The CDC estimated that 34 million people have had flu this season and that there have been 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths from flu.

As of last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said the state had 106,013 laboratory-confirmed cases of flu. There were 2,501 flu-associated hospitalizations and one pediatric flu death.