--- title: The 2018-2019 Flu Season Isn't Over Yet, CDC Says description: The CDC says the 2018-2019 flu season will continue for several more weeks, and the more severe H3N2 strain is on the rise. canonical: https://time.com/5562217/cdc-flu-season-alert/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-01T19:48:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:11:34.376Z article:section: Health og:title: Flu Season Isn't Over Yet — and More Serious Strains Are On the Rise, CDC Says og:description: It will continue for several more weeks og:url: https://time.com/5562217/cdc-flu-season-alert/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf541dd7263d27b34/6989479c096a943c946a4d55/flu-shot.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A doctor is ready to give a vaccination og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Flu Season Isn't Over Yet — and More Serious Strains Are On the Rise, CDC Says twitter:description: It will continue for several more weeks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf541dd7263d27b34/6989479c096a943c946a4d55/flu-shot.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Flu Season Isn't Over Yet — and More Serious Strains Are On the Rise, CDC Says  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Apr 1, 2019 7:48 PM UTC  A close-up of doctor's hand holding a syringe on a white background A close-up of doctor's hand holding a syringe on a white backgroundGetty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Apr 1, 2019 7:48 PM UTC Flu season [has been relatively mild](http://time.com/5500341/flu-season-sick/) in the U.S. this year. But even though it’s late in the season — flu activity tends to wrap up by May — influenza viruses are still circulating, according to a [recent health alert](https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00419.asp) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). H3N2, an influenza strain known to cause more severe illnesses, is now making up a greater proportion of cases than it did early in the season, while lower-severity H1N1 and influenza B viruses are dropping off, the CDC says. Flu shots [tend to protect against](http://time.com/5529448/2019-flu-shot-effectiveness/) H1N1 and influenza B better than they do against H3N2. Given those trends, flu season is likely to continue for several more weeks, the alert says. As of the week ending March 23, 20 U.S. states were still experiencing high influenza-like illness activity, [according to CDC data](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/summary.htm). Flu activity has been above baseline for 18 weeks, making this season a bit longer than some in recent years; the average over the last five seasons has been 16 weeks, the CDC says. Nonetheless, this season has been much milder than last year’s flu season, which killed about 80,000 people. The [CDC estimates](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm) that influenza has caused up to 35.9 million illnesses, 508,000 hospitalizations and 46,800 deaths since the 2018-2019 flu season began in October. Until flu season officially ends, Americans should continue to take precautions to limit its transmission, including washing hands regularly, staying home when sick and seeing a doctor for antiviral drugs if flu symptoms surface. It’s also not too late [to get a flu shot](http://time.com/5415276/flu-shot-2018/) if you haven’t already. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5562217/cdc-flu-season-alert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5562217/cdc-flu-season-alert/"},"headline":"Flu Season Isn't Over Yet — and More Serious Strains Are On the Rise, CDC Says","datePublished":"2019-04-01T19:48:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:11:34.376Z","description":"It will continue for several more weeks","url":"https://time.com/5562217/cdc-flu-season-alert/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf541dd7263d27b34/6989479c096a943c946a4d55/flu-shot.jpg?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/bltf541dd7263d27b34/6989479c096a943c946a4d55/flu-shot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A doctor is ready to give a vaccination","caption":"A doctor holding a flu shot","creditText":"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/5562217/cdc-flu-season-alert/","name":"Flu Season Isn't Over Yet — and More Serious Strains Are On the Rise, CDC Says"}}]}] ```