Flu emergency room visits now "very high" nationwide, CDC says

Emergency room visits with influenza are now "very high" nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday, in this week's update on the winter respiratory virus season.

This season's wave of flu cases is arriving later than it has in the past two years. After the COVID-19 pandemic, annual waves of influenza during the colder months increased weeks earlier than they had during many pre-pandemic seasons.

This year, flu trends look to be closely in line with the 2019 to 2020 season, which also reached peak levels around the New Year.