NEW YORK — The U.S. flu season appears to be waning with two straight weeks of decline in measures of flu activity, according to the latest government data released Friday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted data — for flu activity through last week — that showed a big drop in flu hospitalizations and a smaller but significant decrease in medical office visits due to flu-like illness.
The number of states reporting high flu activity also fell — from 44 to 36.
Meanwhile, there have not been large surges in two other winter menaces — COVID-19 and RSV.
CDC officials are calling the current respiratory virus season ''moderate.'' But that doesn't mean the season is over, especially for flu. Second surges in flu activity often occur after the winter holidays.
''We've had other seasons where we've had a peak, it's gone down, but we've nonetheless had a prolonged season," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
''Most of us are crossing our fingers,'' he added. ''But I don't think we can rely on the concept that flu is abating very early this year."
Medical experts have worried about this season because it has been dominated by a kind of flu virus, called A H3N2, that historically causes the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people.
