TALLAHASSEE — Florida has climbed into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s top tier for influenza activity, joining at least 30 other states at “very high” levels amid a nationwide surge that’s overwhelming hospitals and prompting warnings from local doctors about a particularly aggressive strain.
The latest FluView report from the CDC, released on Friday and covering data through Dec. 27, clocked the national positivity rate for flu-like illnesses at 32.9% — the steepest climb in nearly 30 years. Officials are estimating around 11 million cases overall this season, along with 120,000 trips to the hospital and 5,000 fatalities, nine of them involving children. Florida reporting sometimes lags behind other states, but the numbers are still spiking hard, putting the state in the CDC’s “very high” alert zone alongside heavy hitters like California and Texas.
Physicians are dealing with a surge of severe flu cases linked to the main H3N2 strain, plus a new K subclade that’s slipping past some vaccine defenses and hitting harder than ever.
The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older who has not yet been vaccinated receive an annual influenza vaccine. You can find local resources through the Florida Department of Health or a local pharmacy.
Flu season officially runs through May in Florida, but experts say the current peak could linger into February if vaccination rates don’t improve.
The surge follows a busy travel period over Christmas and New Year’s, made worse by other bugs like RSV, which is still around but looks like it might be tapering off, plus COVID-19, which is still hanging in there at decent levels. Officials keep hammering home the need for flu shots even at this point, pointing out they can still dial back the worst of it, and meds like Tamiflu for people who could really get slammed.
With 45 states now reporting high or very high activity — up from 38 the prior week — the CDC describes this season as moderately severe and warns it could worsen before subsiding.
