A new flu strain has been spreading rapidly across the United States in recent months, but its especially prevalent in New York, with cases soaring.
What’s even more worrying is that experts say the so-called “super-flu” is only going to get worse. The emerging variant, H3N2, surfaced earlier this year and rapidly accumulated mutations that allow it to evade immunity from existing vaccines, according to experts. This highly transmissible strain, dubbed “subclade K,” has already become the dominant form in multiple Northern hemisphere nations.
Data collected by New York City’s syndromic surveillance system shows that more people visited the ER for flu symptoms during the week of December 20 than they did during any other week in the last decade. Additionally, the Big Apple had 24,607 positive flu tests reported by labs in the second week of December, which is higher than any week of last years flu season…