The CDC says five states, including New York and New Jersey, are experiencing "very high" flu activity.
The others are Rhode Island, Colorado and Louisiana. "High" activity is reported in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Georgia, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, the Carolinas and Washington, DC. There were nearly 14-thousand confirmed cases in New York City alone in early December which is a 460-percent increase from the same time last year.
Health experts say the surge is being driven by a new flu variant that emerged after the current vaccine was finalized.
Nationally, the CDC reports that at least four-point-six-million people have gotten sick from flu and 19-hundred adults have died, plus three children.
Doctors are urging people to get flu shots because they say it protects against other circulating strains.
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