Seasonal flu activity is up across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The Centers for Disease Control reports that Iowa is among 17 states with high levels of flu-like activity for the week ending on January 3rd. No states had minimal levels of flu activity, and just three were at low levels. 25 states had very high flus activity levels – at the end of December there were 30 states in this category.
The positivity rate for influenza was over 24% as of the week ending Jan. 3, a decrease from the week prior. Additionally, 7.2% of visits to health care providers were for a respiratory illness — also a decrease from the end of December.
Flu activity levels are calculated by the CDC by measuring the proportion of outpatient visits to providers that have “influenza-like” illnesses. The average percentage of visits is compared to non-influenza weeks.