# Rising Flu Cases Driven by New Strain in the U.S.
2026/01/01 23:28:59
Cases of influenza in the United States are rising, driven by a new strain that public health officials worry current vaccines may not protect against as effectively.
Health officials and researchers say that although the flu season has not reached its peak, the spike in cases is not historically unusual – and they stress vaccines probably still offer protection against the worst effects of the strain.
The number of hospitalizations, emergency room and outpatient visits, and deaths associated with the flu have shot up, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although the U.S. isn’t likely to reach peak until early in the year, possibly February.
“It seems to be a bit of a swift increase, but it’s not atypical,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. “We often see flu seasons come in sort of fast and furious.”
Winter creates ideal conditions for airborne viruses such as flu, COVID and RSV to circulate as people gather indoors for long stretches and travel for the holidays. The Northeast is already feeling the surge. On the day after Christmas,New York health officials said the state experienced the highest number of flu cases in a single week since they began tracking the data in 2004.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began in the United States in 2020, winter virus seasons have been marked by waves of covid infections. But COVID in more recent years has become less prevalent during the winter months, researchers say, even if comparing seasons isn’t perfect as fewer patients, doctors and hospitals test for the coronavirus than in years past.
The coronavirus does not follow a seasonal pattern, but public health officials urge vaccinations and testing in advance of colder months.
Levels of coronavirus tracked in wastewater are lower than during the peak summer wave,said marlene Wolfe,co-principal investigator for WastewaterSCAN,a private initiative that tracks municipal wastewater data.
“There’s plenty of people who are shedding covid into sewer systems when they’re sick, but we aren’t seeing really high levels,” said Wolfe, also an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
For the flu, however, the trajectory of cases is expected to keep rising after a sharp uptick in recent weeks.
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