US flu activity fell for a second week. But experts worry the season is
far from over
[January 17, 2026]
By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. flu season appears to be waning with two
straight weeks of decline in measures of flu activity, according to the
latest government data released Friday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted data — for flu
activity through last week — that showed a big drop in flu
hospitalizations and a smaller but significant decrease in medical
office visits due to flu-like illness.
The number of states reporting high flu activity also fell — from 44 to
36.
Meanwhile, there have not been large surges in two other winter menaces
— COVID-19 and RSV.
CDC officials are calling the current respiratory virus season
“moderate.” But that doesn't mean the season is over, especially for
flu. Second surges in flu activity often occur after the winter
holidays.
“We've had other seasons where we've had a peak, it's gone down, but
we've nonetheless had a prolonged season," said Dr. William Schaffner,
an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
“Most of us are crossing our fingers,” he added. ”But I don't think we
can rely on the concept that flu is abating very early this year."
Medical experts have worried about this season because it has been
dominated by a kind of flu virus, called A H3N2, that historically
causes the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people.
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A pharmacist gives a patient a flu shot in Miami on Sept. 9, 2025.
(AP Photo/Daniel Kozin, File)
 Even more concerning, about 90% of
the H3N2 infections analyzed this season were a new strain that
differs from the version accounted for in this year’s flu shots.
So far this season, there have been at least 18 million flu
illnesses and 230,000 hospitalizations, according to the CDC. The
agency also estimates there have been 9,300 deaths from flu so far,
including at least 32 children. For those children whose vaccination
status is known, 90% were not fully vaccinated against flu.
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