TEXAS — According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Texas has moved from the “high” category to “very high” in their weekly influenza surveillance report, which monitors outpatient respiratory illness that includes a fever plus a cough and a sore throat.
This report is corroborated by a Texas Health and Human Services report that notes a jump in hospitalized influenza cases over the past week from 19,246 to 24,740 and over double the cases from two weeks ago, ending Dec. 13.
Dallas County’s influenza tracker shows a spike, particularly in Type A flu, going from 678 cases to nearly 1,200 in the past week. The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District reports a 23.99% increase in influenza cases citywide over the past week, while El Paso reports over 100 cases in the past week, up from 21 the week before. The City of Austin has yet to update its data.
Overall, the state reports a 9.84% increase in cases. A majority of those cases are the Flu A variant, at over 80%, but there has been a significant increase in Flu B cases, accounting for an 18% increase.