--- title: Here's How Many People Have Gotten the Flu This Season description: The CDC's new flu season estimates find that up to 7.3 million Americans have gotten the flu during the 2018-2019 flu season. canonical: https://time.com/5500341/flu-season-sick/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-11T16:14:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:28:45.279Z article:section: Health og:title: Flu Season Is Picking Up. Here's How Many People Have Already Gotten Sick og:description: It's increasing nationwide og:url: https://time.com/5500341/flu-season-sick/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47313fa37fa53e70/69894317b21a9c9a2a4ffe15/tissues.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Tissue paper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Flu Season Is Picking Up. Here's How Many People Have Already Gotten Sick twitter:description: It's increasing nationwide twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47313fa37fa53e70/69894317b21a9c9a2a4ffe15/tissues.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Flu Season Is Picking Up. Here's How Many People Have Already Gotten Sick  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 11, 2019 4:14 PM UTC  Tissue paper Tissue paperkana—Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 11, 2019 4:14 PM UTC As many as 7.3 million people have already gotten the flu this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) [first real-time flu severity estimates.](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm) Though the flu [is now widespread in about half of states,](http://time.com/5495637/2019-flu-season/) the 2018-2019 season got off to a relatively mild start, at least compared to the [severe 2017-2018 season](http://time.com/5183507/flu-season-peaked/). Still, the CDC’s numbers show that influenza has already affected large numbers of Americans. The agency estimates that between 6.2 and 7.3 million people had been sick with the flu as of Jan. 5, and about half of them had seen a doctor because of it. As many as 83,500 people with the flu had been hospitalized by that date. Death estimates for adults who contracted the flu are not yet available, but [as of late December](https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/), the CDC said that about 6% of deaths nationwide were due to influenza or pneumonia. As of Dec. 29, 2018, 13 children had died from influenza this flu season. The CDC’s latest report marks the first time the agency has provided relatively current estimates for the total number of influenza cases, doctor’s visits and hospitalizations during a given flu season. “These new in-season estimates fill out the picture of the burden of flu in the United States,” the agency said in a statement, adding that they will be updated weekly. The flu is expected to affect more people, so the CDC is still recommending that people [get a flu shot](http://time.com/5415276/flu-shot-2018/). To reduce the spread of illness, it also recommends that people stay home if they are sick, wash their hands frequently and avoid touching their eyes, noses and mouths. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5500341/flu-season-sick/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5500341/flu-season-sick/"},"headline":"Flu Season Is Picking Up. 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