Locator: 50016FLU.
Expectations: we should start seeing more evidence of the second wave, but it will be less severe than last season; similar to earlier seasons.
So, let's go to the data.
Influenza positive tests reported to CDC by clinical laboratories:
- total A: continues to drop in a stepwise manner, no surprises
- total B: continues to increase in a stepwise manner, no surprises
- percent positive, A + B: slow increase, no surprises
This is the section that I'm most interested in:
By subtype:
- influenza A: week 6, 2026; week 40, 2025
- (H1N1)pdm09: 17%, 12%
- H3N2: 83%, 88%
- H3N2v: 0%, 0%
- influenza B, lineage
- Yamagata lineage: 0%
- Victoria lineage: 100%
Percentage of outpatient visits for respiratory illness:
- quite surprising: of the last five years, last year's (2024 - 2025) seemed to have been the anomaly;
- this season (2025-2026) is tracking previous seasons with regard to "trend," but it is more severe than previous seasons (but as noted, well below last season) -- and that's what folks tend to remember, the previous season.
The map:
- the northern tier of the US is reporting minimal influenza; from Montana to New York
- the west coast is "high" and Oregon is "very high";
- the midsection, New Mexico to Iowa/Arkansas and through the entire southeast, influenza remains ("very high")
- Texas still "high" but significantly less than the midsection
By age, emergency department visits with influenza diagnosis:
- 0 - 4 years: 7.5%
- 5 - 17: 11%
- 18 - 64: 2.3%
- > 65 years old: 1.7%
Associated hospital admissions: way, way, way down. At its peak, 14%; now 2% and dropping like a rock.
Measles: on another not, seems to be burning itself out. South Carolina and Utah were the outliers.
The vaccine appears to "work."
