RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Coronavirus outbreak in China, and global pandemic

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began counting the 2017–2018 "flu season" as October 2017, and by early February 2018, the epidemic was still widespread and increasing overall. By February 2018, the CDC said that the circulating virus strains included both B strains (Yamagata and Victoria), H1N1 and H3N2.[6] On February 10, 2018, Fortune reported that influenza in the United States was killing up to 4,000 Americans a week, likely to far outstrip the rate of deaths in the 2009–2010 season. An expert[who?] said that the main type of the flu that year had not "changed enough from previous seasons to be considered a novel strain."[citation needed] In the first week of February, deaths from influenza and pneumonia were responsible for one of every ten deaths in the US, with 4,064 from pneumonia or influenza recorded in the third week of 2018, according to CDC data. The CDC also reported 63 child deaths at that point, half of which were not considered medically high risk, and only about 20 percent who were vaccinated.[7][8] Only two of those deaths were babies under six months old.[9]

The 2017-2018 flu season was severe for all US populations and resulted in an estimated 959,000 hospitalizations and 61,099 deaths. This is the highest number of patient claims since the 2009 flu season.[10] 186 pediatric deaths were reported to the CDC.[3] It is estimated there were more than 600 pediatric deaths related to influenza. This estimation is made because every child death is not tested for influenza.[10]