As the world waits and watches to see what the coronavirus does next, the bad old flu is getting a second wind in the U.S.—and children may be bearing the brunt.
The CDC says 26 million Americans have come down with flu since the season arrived last fall. It’s driven around a quarter-million hospitalizations and claimed 14,000 lives.
And, as the Associated Press reports Feb. 14, the numbers are especially disturbing in the pediatric population. Some 92 flu-related deaths have already been reported in children—“a higher total at this point of the year than in any season in the past decade,” reporter Mike Stobbe writes. “And the hospitalization rates also are far higher than what’s been seen at this point.”
Curiously, it’s the usual focuses of worry—the elderly—who are faring relatively well versus the flu.
“In fact, the overall death and hospitalization rates this season are not high ‘because we haven’t seen the elderly as involved in this flu season,’ the CDC’s Lynnette Brammer tells the AP.
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Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.