Now, the 36-bed emergency department is seeing more than 260 patients a day, he said. Among those sick with flu-related illnesses are many children, Whiteley said.<\/p>\n
Until the recent surge, this flu season, which started in\u00a0the fall and will end in the spring, had been milder in California than the previous season. With cases now on the rise, children, older adults and those with compromised immune systems have an increased risk of serious illness, doctors and public health experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cFlu can be deadly,\u201d said Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who specializes in treating infectious diseases. \u201cIt\u2019s deadly every year.\u201d<\/p>\n The flu is a collection of influenza viruses that cause respiratory illness, which spreads\u00a0through coughs and sneezes. They can also remain on surfaces after an infected person has left the room. Millions of people in the U.S. get the flu each season, and for most, symptoms are mild: coughing, a sore throat, a runny nose and perhaps a fever.<\/p>\n Adults over 65 and kids, particularly those under 5, can be hit harder by the flu. The illness can lead to hospitalizations and deaths. A brutal flu season played out in California last year: More than 1,600 people died from influenza, 44 of whom were children.<\/p>\n This flu season began with unease in North America.\u00a0In August, global health authorities noticed that a mutation of an influenza virus called \u2018Subclade K\u2019 was spreading quickly<\/a> in other countries. Some media reports dubbed the variant a \u201csuper bug,\u201d and the term took off, raising concern the flu would bring worse symptoms this year.<\/p>\n Early outbreaks hit the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada,<\/a> the Associated Press reported. In the U.S., the variant then fueled big spikes in flu cases<\/a> in New York, Colorado and Louisiana by the year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n The variant is now spreading fast in California. But in a welcome trend for doctors, far fewer flu patients are dying. Flu and its complications caused only 177 deaths between July and Jan. 30 compared to 561 at this point last ye<\/a>ar<\/a>, according to state data. Two children have died, including one in San Mateo County<\/a>. During the same time, more than 900 Californians died from COVID-19.<\/p>\n Doctors and experts in the Bay Area said it\u2019s unclear if the flu will continue to surge or level off.<\/p>\n \u201cYou really never know why the virus acts like it does,\u201d said Yvonne Maldonado, Stanford professor of global health and infectious diseases. \u201cNo flu year is a good flu year, and we know every year will be a flu year.\u201d<\/p>\n In San Jose, Whiteley is holding his breath.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if it will hit as high as it did last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"Flu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SJM-L-INFLENZA-0131-90.webp.png\")
Statewide data show the San Jose hospital is no outlier. The percentage of positive flu tests surged from single digits to nearly 20% during the holidays. After a dip in January, cases spiked again and hit a seasonal high this week<\/a>, the data shows.<\/p>\n