Name: Flu cases are rising. Here’s why and how to protect yourself
Uploaded: 2025-12-25T16:24:56.061Z
Duration: 3 min 47 s
Description: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there have been 4.6 million flu cases this season, along with 49,000 hospitalizations and 1,900 deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there have been 4.6 million flu cases this season, along with 49,000 hospitalizations and 1,900 deaths.

Health officials are reporting a significant increase in flu cases and hospitalizations due to the rapid spread of a new subclade K variant of the flu virus in the U.S. and other countries. This strain differs genetically from the current flu vaccine, resulting in reduced vaccine effectiveness and higher transmission rates, though hospitalizations and deaths remain consistent with previous years.

At-risk populations include young children, older adults, pregnant people, and the immunocompromised. Officials recommend vaccination for everyone six months and older, as it still helps prevent severe outcomes. Additional precautions such as hand washing, staying home when sick, and wearing masks in crowded places are also advised, especially during increased travel and gatherings in the holiday season.

Flu cases are rising. Here’s why and how to protect yourself

Health officials are sounding the alarm as a new flu strain surges across the U.S. and around the world. This new strain is driving millions of illnesses and tens of thousands of hospitalizations this season with activity rising just ahead of the holiday peak. Scripps News Business and Tech Correspondent Maura Barrett live in Denver for us on this and Maura, so officials are tracking this what exactly are they looking at and who are they saying is most at risk? Right so this is the sub clade k variant of the typical flu virus that we see and so it's been identified in the U.S. across the the pond over in the U.K. and other countries and it's spreading really quickly and the key problem here is that this variant is a different genetic makeup than the flu vaccine that was given to people this year and so it's not going to totally the vaccine's not going to totally protect against this strain of the virus. Now in terms of at-risk populations it's the ones that we typically see that are more susceptible to illness so young children older adults pregnant people the immunocompromised they're the ones that are going to see risk of more severe flu complications and when we talk about how fast this virus is spreading this flu is spreading we've seen millions of cases already reported 4.6 million cases 49,000 hospitalizations and 1900 deaths now the the hospitalizations and deaths doctors say is kind of at the same point statistically that we see most years it's really that a number of cases that's concerning in terms of the high transmission and that's something that might be impacted by lower vaccination rates but ultimately epidemiologists doctors that we've heard from have basically called out this isn't necessarily going to make people more sick if you've been vaccinated but that more people will get sick because the vaccine doesn't completely protect against this virus if if you're able to follow that but basically you'll want people to to look out for fever cough fatigue body aches those types of symptoms and in children specifically they're seeing what this strain is increased gi issues as well holly oh and we know that a lot of people traveling this time of year it's the holidays people get together with friends family they get on airplanes and crowded airports so what's the best way to stay healthy even as we're seeing a number of flu cases grow so this might not help for for right now if you're getting on a plane today or tomorrow but it's important to go and get your vaccine for this year doctors are saying even if this year's vaccine is not a perfect match for this exact strain it still does reduce those severe outcomes you'll avoid hospital you'll avoid death and it's strongly recommended for anyone six months and older to go and get vaccinated the thing is that we're seeing with this high transmission rate is the fact that just 130 million americans were vaccinated with the for the flu this year that's less than half of the total population and that's down 10 compared to this time last year so that's why there's this concern about the transmission in addition to going and getting your vaccine doctors say do all those standard preventative steps wash your hands stay home when you're sick maybe pull out your face mask to to cover your mouth because this is a droplet risk a virus that gets spread if you're going to you know crowded areas like an airport or a train station and those are things that you should keep in mind obviously through the end of the year in the holiday season but going deeper into winter as well holly that we all have all those masks left over from the pandemic and it doesn't look so weird to wear one so if you can you can news correspondent maura barrett thank you for that update we appreciate it and have a happy healthy holiday to you

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