Flu-related childhood deaths are rising again this week as superflu cases continue to surge in more than a dozen states.
Health officials in Ohio and Kentucky reported the first childhood flu deaths in their states, raising the nationwide death toll to nine.
The Ohio Health Department said an unidentified teen in Greene County has died due to the infection. It’s unclear whether the teen had received a flu shot, but the department stressed the importance of getting it.
“It’s not too late to get a flu shot. It can prevent you or a loved one from getting seriously ill,” Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoof said in a statement.
Kentucky officials say a child who died from the flu in Kenton County had not yet received this year’s vaccine. The Kentucky child also has not yet been identified.
A medical assistant gives a flu shot to a child in Coral Gables, Florida, in September. Two more children have died from the flu in the United States this week, health officials say (Getty Images)
“This is a heartbreaking reminder that the flu is not always a mild illness, especially for young children and people with high-risk medical conditions,” Dr. Steven Stark, cabinet secretary for health and family services at the Kentucky Department of Public Health, said in a release.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone over six months of age get an annual flu shot to prevent serious illness.
The news comes after U.S. children endured the deadliest non-pandemic flu season on record and last year’s worst flu season in nearly 15 years. The agency estimates that 7.5 million people have been infected nationwide this year, with more than 81,000 people hospitalized and 3,100 flu-related deaths.
Hospitalizations have increased rapidly, nearly doubling from 9,944 to 19,053 from the week of Dec. 13 to the week of Dec. 20.
A CDC map shows current flu hot spots are in Colorado, Louisiana, South Carolina and New York.
New York is facing one of its worst flu seasons ever, with officials reporting a new high in weekly case counts before Christmas, with a 38% increase, WNBC reported. “We are seeing a record number of influenza cases in New York State in a single week,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald.
In the West, hospitalizations are at a record high in Colorado, with nearly 800 people currently hospitalized for the flu, according to reports. CPR Newsan increase of 250 from last week.
Hope Shuler, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told the outlet in an email, “782 new flu-related hospitalizations were reported for the week ending December 27, setting a record for the raw number of flu hospitalizations reported in a week since flu hospitalizations began being tracked in 2004.”
A map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing flu activity across the United States last month. States in purple, red, and orange have the highest activity levels, and states in green, yellow, or white have the lowest levels of activity (CDC)
“We saw a similar hospitalization rate (40 hospitalizations per 100,000 people) during the 2024-2025 season, but we didn’t reach that number until about four weeks later, in late January,” she said.
Most hospitalizations in Colorado, New York and elsewhere are caused by H3N2, a subtype of the influenza A virus. The H3N2 strain has been linked to increased hospitalizations and deaths among older adults.
The situation also emerged widely after this season’s flu vaccine was finalized, leading to concerns that this year’s vaccine may be less effective.
“It doesn’t match up well with this year’s vaccine, which means there may be a larger percentage of the population that is susceptible to influenza,” Neil Maniar, director of Northeastern University’s master of public health program, said in December. Still, he noted, vaccination is important to prevent severe disease.
More than 130 million U.S. adults (about 42%) have received a flu vaccine this year, and the 2025-2026 flu season is far from over.
The season typically runs through spring, with cases peaking in January and February last year. By the end of the season, tens of thousands of people had died from the flu, including 280 children. It’s too early to tell how Team USA will perform this season.
“Severity indicators remain low at this time, but influenza activity is expected to continue for several weeks,” the CDC said.
