New York City Already Seeing 'High' Flu Activity, CDC Data Show

NEW YORK CITY — New York City has a "high" level of flu amid the largest nationwide increase in seasonal influenza cases for this time of the year in more than a decade, federal health officials said Friday.

The 2022-2023 flu season, which runs from October and May, has already claimed 360 lives —including that of a child — and seen 6,900 people hospitalized, the highest number since 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report tracks flu levels on a state level but also includes rankings for major metropolises such as New York City, which it ranks as high for flu activity.

City data show the 2022-2023 flu season has already begun to outpace the previous four years.

There were recently two influenza outbreaks reported in long-term care facilities, according to a Health department report on New York City flu rates between Oct. 8 and Oct. 15.

During the one-week period, 1 percent of flu tests came back positive with 390 specimens positive for influenza A and 25 specimens positive for influenza B.

New York City also saw 4 percent of outpatients reporting flu-like illnesses, a rate well about the national baseline and flu seasons that began in 2020 and 2021.

On the East coast, flu is at higher levels in New Jersey and Maryland, the CDC data show.

Nationwide, flu activity is the highest in the South and Southeast, and is picking up along the Atlantic coast.

Flu practically vanished over the past couple of years as people wore face masks and stayed out of crowded places to avoid COVID-19, which has killed more than 1 million people since early 2020. In the past week, 265,893 people in the United States have tested positive and 19,454 were hospitalized with COVID-19.

The state Department of Public Health on Thursday, 7,318 new coronavirus cases, and 86 new deaths linked to the virus.

The CDC report comes as children’s hospitals across the country are seeing a rise in RSV cases. Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, as the common childhood illness is officially known, also plummeted during the first two years of the pandemic, but doctors now report an alarming increase in what is normally a fall and winter virus.

“The data are ominous,” William Schaffner, medical director for the nonprofit National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a professor of infectious diseases at that Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told The Washington Post.

“Not only is flu early, it also looks very severe,” he said. “This is not just a preview of coming attractions. We’re already starting to see this movie. I would call it a scary movie.”

A couple of things are compounding the problem. Flu, COVID-19 and RSV all have similar symptoms, making laboratory tests the only way to erase doubt about which disease should be treated.

Also, less than a quarter of Americans have gotten flu shots, according to CDC data.

“That makes me doubly worried,” Schaffner told The Post. The high burden of flu “certainly looks like the start of what could be the worst flu season in 13 years.”

Schaffner and other medical officials worry influenza numbers could rival the H1N1 swine flu pandemic of 2009, when 60.8 million people were sickened, including nearly 12,500 who died.

Federal health officials recommend everyone ages 6 months and older get a flu vaccine every year.

New York City dwellers can find nearby locations to receive COVID-19, flu and monkeypox vaccinations here.