No information about any of the children, their hometowns or health history has been released by the state.<\/p>\n
State health officials could not be reached for comment Friday night.<\/p>\n
At least two of the children were younger than 2<\/a> and were in Boston, the city\u2019s Public Health Commission said<\/a>. They are the first reported flu deaths in children in Boston since 2013, officials said.<\/p>\n Adult deaths from influenza are up to 107, according to the health department\u2019s weekly influenza update<\/a>. Forty-five adults died during the week from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3, the dashboard shows.<\/p>\n National health officials say 32 children have died from from flu so far this year and estimate there have been 9,300 adult deaths.<\/p>\n The flu season<\/a> nationally appears to be waning with two straight weeks of decline in measures of flu activity<\/a>, according to the latest government data released Friday.<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted data<\/a> \u2014 for flu activity through last week \u2014 that showed a big drop in flu hospitalizations and a smaller but significant decrease in medical office visits due to flu-like illness.<\/p>\n CDC officials are calling the current respiratory virus season \u201cmoderate.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t mean the season is over, especially for flu. Second surges in flu activity often occur after the winter holidays.<\/p>\n There were 470 flu-related deaths in Massachusetts during the 2024-25 flu season, up from 251 in 2023-24, according to DPH<\/a>.<\/p>\n The flu season typically spans from October through May, but the first flu-related death in Massachusetts this year was reported in August, data shows.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s children\u2019s deaths underscore the severity of this season\u2019s influenza outbreak<\/a>, public health officials said.<\/p>\n In November, state health officials warned of \u201crising flu activity and the potential for a significant surge\u201d<\/a> this season and have urged people to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n Medical experts have worried about this season because it has been dominated by a kind of flu virus, called A H3N2, that historically causes the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people.<\/p>\n Even more concerning, about 90% of the H3N2 infections analyzed this season were a new strain that differs from the version accounted for in this year\u2019s flu shots.<\/p>\n In Boston, hospitalizations almost tripled and confirmed flu cases increased by 126 percent during the week of Dec. 14 to Dec. 27, city health officials said.<\/p>\n Nationwide, there have been at least 18 million flu illnesses and 230,000 hospitalizations reported, according to the CDC. <\/p>\n Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.<\/p>\n Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @talanez<\/a>.<\/p>\n