NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A young child died of the flu in New Jersey this week, state health officials said Friday as they warned a “very serious” flu season—and as NYC officials said over half of cases in the city are children.
The child, who was from North Jersey, was under 5 years old and had no known comorbidities, officials said. Additional details weren’t immediately released on the death, which is the state's first pediatric death this flu season.
“This flu season is already shaping up to be a very serious one, with more cases than previous years and, tragically, one child’s death this week. We extend our deepest condolences to the child’s family,” said acting health commissioner Jeff Brown in a statement.
The number of flu cases and hospitalizations remains “very elevated” in the state, officials said, as they urged everyone 6 months and older to get vaccinated.
Health officials nationwide have warned of surging flu cases, with a new spike reported after the holidays.
New York City health officials said Thursday more than 32,000 positive flu cases were reported in the five boroughs for the week ending Dec. 20—the most reported in a single week since 2005, when full-year data first became available.
To date this season, there have been more than 128,000 positive flu cases reported in NYC, and 54% of them were in children under 18 years old.
Nearly every state in the U.S. was reporting high or very high flu activity during the week of Christmas, compared to about half of states the week before that, according to the CDC.
The most frequently reported type of flu this season is A H3N2, with more than 90% of H3N2 infections analyzed showing a new version known as the subclade K variant, which differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots. Officials have said the vaccine can still help prevent serious outcomes.