Flu season already hitting hard across half of the US

Key Facts

Multiple respiratory viruses are circulating nationwide – including flu, RSV and the virus that causes Covid-19 – and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tweeted Thursday that flu is contributing to a “significant proportion” of that circulation.
And influenza activity continues to increase: After nearly doubling in the last week of October, the number of flu illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths this season took another significant jump in the first week of November.
More than three-quarters of pediatric hospital beds and pediatric ICU beds have been in use for the past few weeks – up from an average of about two-thirds full over the past two years, according to federal data.
On Thursday, Dr. Brian Cummings, medical director of the Department of Pediatrics at Mass General for Children, said they’ve seen around 2,000 cases of RSV in October, and more than 1,000 in the first week of November.