The U.S. has crossed the epidemic threshold when it comes to flu, federal health officials said Friday, as they outlined plans to deploy personnel from the Department of Defense and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and supplies like ventilators from the Strategic National Stockpile, if needed.
U.S. flu hospitalizations are higher now than theyve been at this point in every other flu season since 2010-2011, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on a press call.
The country is seeing a resurgence of non-COVID respiratory illnesses like flu, RSV, rhinovirus, and enterovirus, with background levels of COVID, Dr. José Romero, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on the call, which included officials from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
Officials are monitoring hospital capacity throughout the U.S. and are standing by to deploy additional personnel and supplies as needed, Dawn OConnell, assistant secretary of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said.
In the Southeast U.S., nearly 20% of flu tests sent to a lab are returning positivemost of them for influenza A, which appears to be more severe in children and the elderly. In the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions, an early flu season is also causing severe illness in those age groups, according to Romero
Eight out of 10 regions of the country are seeing levels of RSV significantly higher than those seen at the same time in previous years, he added.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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