Weekly Flu Report, February 18, 2022

Massachusetts Department of Public Health weekly influenza update

This week's report

View the current weekly flu report.

Highlights

Highlights from this week’s report:

• Influenza severity for Massachusetts is low this week.
• The percent of influenza-like illness (ILI) visits in Massachusetts is 0.52%, which is lower than the regional baseline of 2.0%.
• The percent of hospitalizations associated with influenza is 0.04%, which is lower than two of the previous seasons, but comparable to last season in the same week.
• Overall ILI activity is minimal. All regions are reporting minimal ILI activity. 
• More influenza A than influenza B positive specimens have been reported by hospitals and outpatient facilities in Massachusetts. For influenza A, the predominant strain is currently H3N2.
• Nationally, sporadic influenza activity continues. In some areas, influenza activity is increasing.
• Additional statewide and national data including geographic spread, ILI activity, and pneumonia and influenza mortality are available at CDC’s FluView Weekly Report at www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly and FluView Interactive https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluviewinteractive.htm.
• Statewide and national COVID data are available at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

It’s not too late to get vaccinated. Flu vaccination is always the best way to prevent flu and its potentially serious complications.

Additional Resources

Weekly Flu Report, February 25, 2022 (Accessible)

Date published:	February 18, 2022