--- title: The Flu Season Has Finally Peaked description: According to the CDC, this year’s deadly flu season has finally peaked, but some are still being infected by a secondary strain. canonical: https://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-02T20:56:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T21:32:51.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Flu Season Has Finally Peaked, the CDC Says og:description: But a secondary strain is circulating og:url: https://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43cb550a399bb5eb/69892973656a3fd92abd3b9b/flu-season.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: California Flu Deaths Rise Sharply In January og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Flu Season Has Finally Peaked, the CDC Says twitter:description: But a secondary strain is circulating twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43cb550a399bb5eb/69892973656a3fd92abd3b9b/flu-season.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Year’s Deadly Flu Season Has Finally Peaked, CDC Says > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=47a17419-efa0-4e89-bd85-cc7cc04ffac8&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:32 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2018 8:56 PM UTC  Vials of the Fluvirin influenza vaccine. Vials of the Fluvirin influenza vaccine. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 9:32 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2018 8:56 PM UTC After months of [record-breaking](http://time.com/5179131/the-flu-vaccine-worst-year/) widespread illness, flu season has finally peaked, according to CDC officials. “It looks like we peaked in early February, based on our data” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told TIME. That doesn’t mean flu season is over, though. “Even though it looks like flu activity is decreasing in some parts of the country, there’s still a lot of it out there,” Nordlund says. “We’re not out of the woods yet. It’s likely that we’ll probably see flu activity through the middle of April.” Indeed, most states continue to report high or moderate flu activity, [according to the CDC’s weekly flu report](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm). Five percent of all outpatient doctor’s visits last week were due to flu-like symptoms, [down from 6.4% last week](http://time.com/5172552/flu-season-cdc-update/) but more than double the non-flu-season average of 2.2%. Seventeen more pediatric deaths were also reported during the week ending Feb. 24, bringing the season total to at least 114 so far. The H3N2 flu strain, which is especially virulent and [resistant to vaccines](http://time.com/5160213/flu-shot-effectiveness-2018/), continues to dominate the season, according to the CDC — but the proportion of influenza A viruses, including H3N2, is beginning to decline. However, influenza B viruses are on the rise, so there may be a bump in influenza B infections still to come. It’s also [possible to get sick with both strains in a single season](http://www.health.com/cold-flu-sinus/can-you-get-flu-twice-in-one-season), so those who came down with H3N2 may not be in the clear yet. For that reason, CDC officials are still recommending that unvaccinated people get the flu shot before season’s end. If you already got the shot, however, [it’s not necessary to get it a second time](http://www.health.com/cold-flu-sinus/should-i-get-a-second-flu-shot). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/"},"headline":"This Year’s Deadly Flu Season Has Finally Peaked, CDC Says","datePublished":"2018-03-02T20:56:51.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T21:32:51.000Z","description":"But a secondary strain is circulating.","url":"https://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/","keywords":["Public Health","flu","flu season","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43cb550a399bb5eb/69892973656a3fd92abd3b9b/flu-season.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43cb550a399bb5eb/69892973656a3fd92abd3b9b/flu-season.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"California Flu Deaths Rise Sharply In January","caption":"California Flu Deaths Rise Sharply In January","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/","name":"This Year’s Deadly Flu Season Has Finally Peaked, CDC Says"}}]}] ```