Flu rates remain “very high” across Massachusetts, with the state being just one of six total in the country said to have the highest flu rates in the country in a weekly flu report updated as of Dec. 30, 2022, and collected through Dec. 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Data from the CDC’s reporting showed there were 7,162 new reported lab-cases of the flu recorded from Dec. 18 until Dec. 24, 2022, in Massachusetts. That represented a drop from the 8,493 new reported cases from the week prior, according to the data.
The CDC also said 5.07% of hospitalizations in Massachusetts were related to the flu, less than the week prior’s of 5.21%.
However, 8.03% of healthcare visits were related to an “influenza-like illness,” the CDC said, greater than the regional baseline of 2.0%.
This year’s flu spike is massive compared to years’ prior; during the same flu reporting period for the week of Dec. 19, 2021, just 3.45% of healthcare visits in the commonwealth were related to the flu. Flu-related healthcare visits only peaked at 4.39% during the week of Dec. 26, 2021, even sinking below the regional baseline of 2.0% to 1.95% by the week of Jan. 9, 2022.
This is the highest amount of flu-related healthcare visits in Massachusetts since 2020, when visit rates peaked at 6.61% during the week of March 22, 2020. They were also considered “very high,” but were over 1.5% lower than current flu data.
Across the country, the other five states with the highest flu rates in the country include Maine, Nebraska, Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico, according to the CDC.
In New England, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut are all reporting “very high” flu rates, while New Hampshire remains an outlier with “minimal” flu rates, the CDC said in its report.
The CDC also reported New York City has some of the highest flu rates in the country.
