{"id":475578,"date":"2025-12-27T19:48:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475578\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T19:48:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:48:27","slug":"new-york-flu-cases-reach-record-high-as-hospitals-feel-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475578\/","title":{"rendered":"New York flu cases reach record high as hospitals feel strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York is getting slammed by the flu.<\/p>\n

The state logged 71,123 positive flu cases<\/a> in the week ending on Dec. 20 \u2014 the highest single-week total since tracking began in 2004, according to the New York State Department of Health.<\/p>\n

The figure marks a 38% jump from the previous week and signals an early, fast-moving flu season.<\/p>\n

So far this season, 189,312 flu cases have been reported statewide.<\/p>\n

New York State recorded more than 71,000 flu cases in a single week, the highest total since tracking began in 2004. UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Health officials say the surge started weeks earlier<\/a> than usual and is expected to keep climbing as flu season typically peaks in January.<\/p>\n

Emergency rooms are already feeling the strain. New York City hospitals reported 9,857 emergency room visits for flu-like illness<\/a> in the week ending Dec. 20, the highest level seen in at least a decade.<\/p>\n

Lab-confirmed cases show how widespread the virus has become, with the city recording 32,239<\/a> flu cases that week. More than half of those who fell sick, were children. <\/p>\n

Health officials say the current flu season started weeks earlier than usual and is spreading rapidly across the state. nimito \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said the numbers are the highest ever recorded<\/a> for a single week, though increased testing may be capturing more cases than in past years.<\/p>\n

The dominant strain circulating this season is H3N2<\/a>, which has mutations that may help it evade immune defenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Early data suggests the flu shot may be less effective at preventing infection but still lowers the risk of hospitalization.<\/p>\n

The dominant flu strain circulating this season is H3N2, which health officials say may partially evade immune defenses. Yuliia \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

State officials say there is no sign the strain is more severe than usual. Most hospitalized patients have underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n

Inpatient flu hospitalizations rose sharply last week to 3,666 statewide, up from 2,251 the week before.<\/p>\n

Public health experts warn the worst may still be ahead and urge New Yorkers to get vaccinated and stay home when sick.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York is getting slammed by the flu. The state logged 71,123 positive flu cases in the week…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":475579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,3534,47180,210,3584,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,881,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,2040],"class_list":{"0":"post-475578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-emergency","10":"tag-flu","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-hospitals","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-public-health","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-vaccination"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115793264804086809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}