Flu Hospitalizations Climb Earlier Than Normal as CDC Reports Three Child Deaths So Far

Flu hospitalizations are climbing earlier and faster than the typical pace for early November, according to the latest weekly surveillance report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also recorded five pediatric flu deaths in a single week.

The FluView report for the week ending October 31, published November 6, is the most recent available. It found 8,396 influenza-associated hospitalizations reported through the CDC's hospital network that week, an admission rate of 2.5 per 100,000 people, up from the week before. A separate hospitalization-tracking system, FluSurv-NET, put the weekly rate at 1.6 per 100,000 before adjusting for reporting lags, which the agency estimates pushes the true figure to between 2.2 and 2.9; the cumulative rate for the season so far stands at 6.0 per 100,000. Outpatient visits for flu-like illness rose to 2.8% of all visits nationally, still just below the 2.9% baseline the CDC uses to define above-normal activity.

Five deaths, three so far this season

Of the five pediatric deaths reported in the week's data, two were attributed to the current 2026-27 season, bringing that season's total to three children so far, while three were retrospectively attributed to the 2025-26 season, bringing final tallies for that season to 202 pediatric deaths. The CDC's regional breakdown showed two states or jurisdictions at "high" activity levels and five at "moderate," with Health and Human Services Regions 4 and 10 — covering the Southeast and Pacific Northwest, respectively — already running above their seasonal baselines while the rest of the country remained below.

The agency's FluSight forecasting model, which the CDC began publishing seasonally in recent years to project the near-term trajectory of the virus, calls for a "likely" national increase in both hospital admissions and emergency-department visits for flu over the two weeks following the report, through November 21. Its range of projected new hospital admissions for that stretch spans from roughly 6,900 to 30,100, reflecting significant uncertainty this early in the season about how quickly the current wave will build.

An early-season pattern taking shape

The trajectory tracks with what CDC forecasters had already flagged in late October, when the agency's prior weekly report, covering data through October 24, recorded the season's first pediatric death and projected that hospital admissions would likely keep climbing through at least the middle of November, according to a summary of that earlier data. At the time, outpatient illness visits stood at 2.4%, meaning the subsequent week's rise to 2.8% represents a continuation of the trend CDC modelers had anticipated rather than a surprise acceleration.

Public health officials have not yet characterized how this season compares with last year's, which the CDC ultimately classified as "moderately severe," with a final tally of roughly 11 million illnesses and 120,000 hospitalizations by its end. With flu activity still below the threshold the CDC uses to declare widespread transmission in most of the country, the coming weeks, including the Thanksgiving travel period, are expected to be the clearest early indicator of whether this season will follow a similar path or diverge from it.