The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported a very high number of flu cases in 33 states of the Union and the District of Columbia. The experts of the US government have stated that such a high number of cases has not been seen since the peak of swine flu in 2009. Notably, for the first time since 2019, the current year has already seen a higher number of deaths from seasonal illnesses than from the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. The proportion of deaths from influenza reached 2 percent of all deaths recorded in the US in the first week of February, while deaths caused by the Coronavirus accounted for 1.5 percent. Furthermore, cases of influenza that have required hospitalisation are three times as many as those of the Coronavirus. The discrepancy in mortality rates between influenza and COVID-19 is particularly pronounced in California, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and Wyoming, where the seasonal disease has resulted in twice the number of weekly deaths as COVID-19, according to media reports.
February 17, 2025
