NEW YORK – Recent data from government sources indicate a promising decline in the U.S. flu season, with flu activity indicators showing a downward trend for two consecutive weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a notable decrease in flu-related hospitalizations, along with a significant reduction in visits to medical offices for flu-like symptoms.

The number of states experiencing high flu activity has also decreased, dropping from 44 states to 36.

In contrast, there have been no major increases in COVID-19 or RSV cases this winter.

CDC officials describe the current respiratory virus season as “moderate.” However, they caution that the flu season is not necessarily over, as second waves of flu activity can occur after the winter holiday period.

“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.

Even more concerning, about 90% of the H3N2 infections analyzed this season were a new strain that differs from the version accounted for in this year’s flu shots.

So far this season, there have been at least 18 million flu illnesses and 230,000 hospitalizations, according to the CDC. The agency also estimates there have been 9,300 deaths from flu so far, including at least 32 children. For those children whose vaccination status is known, 90% were not fully vaccinated against flu.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.