Overview
- Public health officials report 115 child flu deaths this winter, with a recent week logging 14 fatalities in the largest surge since early January.
- Flu activity is falling overall, yet six states still show high levels of illness: Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri and Ohio.
- Testing now finds influenza B in the majority of positive samples, and clinicians note it can hit children harder with risks like seizures, severe vomiting and pneumonia.
- The CDC has confirmed the death counts but has not released which states the children were from or their ages, limiting insight into who is most at risk.
- Massachusetts has reported nine pediatric flu deaths this season, a stark data point as last season’s national child death toll reached nearly 300.