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Weekly Flu Report, January 24, 2020

Massachusetts Department of Public Health weekly influenza update
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This week’s report

View the current weekly flu report..

Highlights

  • Influenza severity for Massachusetts has increased from moderate to high this week.
  • The percentage of influenza-like illness visits for Massachusetts has increased and is higher than the previous two years in the same week.
  • Overall influenza-like illness activity for Massachusetts remains high this week. The Inner Metro Boston region is reporting moderate ILI activity while all other regions are reporting high ILI activity.
  • The percent of influenza-associated hospitalizations in Massachusetts has increased in recent weeks, but remains lower than the previous two years in the same week.
  • In the 2019-2020 flu season, more influenza B than influenza A positive specimens have been reported by hospitals and outpatient facilities in Massachusetts.
  • The number of influenza positive laboratory tests reported to MDPH increased this week by 31% compared to last week. The number of influenza A and influenza B positive laboratory tests reported to MDPH increased by 23% and 37%, respectively, compared to last week.
  • All influenza strains that have been characterized in Massachusetts this season to date are covered by the current influenza vaccine.
  • Nationally, influenza-like illness activity remains elevated and influenza B is most common, however, during recent weeks approximately equal numbers of influenza B and influenza A have been reported.
  • There have been two confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV in Wuhan, China) in the U.S. and no cases identified in Massachusetts.  For the most up to date information on the Wuhan virus please visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
  • Additional statewide and national data including geographic spread, ILI activity, and pneumonia and influenza mortality are available at CDC’s FluView Weekly Report at https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/index.html and FluView Interactive https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/overview/fluview-interactive.html.

Flu activity remains elevated. 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

Date published: January 24, 2020

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