The flu season appears to have come to an early end, official data suggests, with doctors saying it was “mild” compared to previous years.
CDC figures show that for three consecutive weeks reports of flu-like illnesses have been below the threshold for an active flu season, which usually officially ends in May.
Other indicators, such as hospitalizations and patient testing, are also low or declining, and no states are reporting a high or very high number of flu cases.
It suggests that the 2023 to 2024 flu season is already over.
Flu estimates have been below the threshold for an active flu season for three weeks, officials said, suggesting the season is officially over.
The above shows the 2022 to 2023 flu season, left, and 2019 to 2020, right, this season’s data was slightly above last year’s, but below 2019 to 2020 levels.
The most recent flu season is shown as a red line next to previous flu seasons.
Dr. Jay Varkey, an infectious disease physician at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, said his units felt “overloaded but never overcapacity.”
“It was more like a traditional respiratory virus season than when we had massive Covid surges that were confusing it,” he said.
In total, the CDC estimates there were at least 34 million illnesses, 380,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths from the flu.
That figure was actually slightly higher than the previous season’s levels, when there were an estimated 31 million illnesses, 360,000 hospitalizations and 21,000 deaths.
But below the figures from the season before the pandemic, when 36 million illnesses, 390,000 hospitalizations and 25,000 deaths from flu were estimated.
The flu season typically lasts until May in the United States, after starting in October and peaking between December and February.