Dr. Jennifer Goebel, attending physician at South Shore University Hospital, Northwell in New York, said the hospital began seeing a rush of flu cases around Thanksgiving, maybe even a bit earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember seeing flu cases this early and in this many numbers,\u201d Goebel said. \u201cIt seems worse. Just a tremendous amount of volume.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Donald Yealy, the chief medical officer of the UPMC health system, which has hospitals in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York, said that for the past two weeks, he\u2019s seen \u201ca dramatic uptick\u201d in the number of people coming in with acute respiratory infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest set of those are people with suspected influenza,\u201d Yealy said. \u201cAnd of those that we have adequate testing, it\u2019s disproportionately influenza A.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who is hardest hit this flu season?<\/p>\n
Doctors say infants and young children through age 4 have been among those hit hardest. <\/p>\n
As cases rise, however, Dr. Lauren Siewny, the medical director of Duke University Hospital Emergency Department in North Carolina, said school-aged children and young adults are also coming in sick with the flu. <\/p>\n
Older adults and people with chronic conditions are more likely to need hospitalization, Siewny added. Beds are also tight, she said, with cases of Covid and RSV overlapping with flu patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have built-in plans for these surges, and we prioritize the sickest patients first,\u201d Siewny said. <\/p>\n
Yealy said they\u2019re seeing the flu hit all age groups, although the vast majority of people who require admission or advanced care are unvaccinated.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re also seeing a small uptick in Covid, norovirus and RSV cases, but the majority of cases that come in are the flu.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the winter viral season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Goebel, of South Shore University Hospital, also said they\u2019re seeing cases across all age groups, adding, \u201cWe\u2019re really just kind of seeing it across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the new variant a \u2018super flu\u2019?<\/p>\n
The dominant strain right now is Influenza A \u2014 specifically a fast-spreading, mutated H3N2 strain called \u201csubclade K.\u201d H3N2 generally is thought to cause more severe illness<\/a>, which may explain the sudden rise in hospitalizations. <\/p>\n The mutated strain, dubbed by some as \u201csuper flu,\u201d emerged over the summer and includes changes to a key surface protein, which can make it harder for the immune system to recognize the virus. It\u2019s also being blamed for a severe and early flu season in the United Kingdom and Japan.<\/p>\n