Web Desk:
According to Reuters, the US is experiencing the highest level of hospitalization from influenza that it has seen in a decade or this time of year, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. She further added that 14 children have died so far this flu season.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that U.S. hospital systems also continue to be stressed with a high number of patients with other respiratory illnesses such as a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19.
“Especially for RSV and flu, these levels are higher than we generally see this time of year,” Walensky told reporters in a telephone news briefing. She said flu season started earlier and “hospitalizations for flu continue to be the highest we have seen at this time of year in a decade.”
There have been at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations, and 4,500 deaths from flu so far this season, according to CDC estimates. It urged people to get vaccinated.
