(VOVWORLD) - For the first time since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, more people in the US died of influenza than from COVID-19 in the week ending on January 25, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nearly 1.7% of all deaths in the US were attributed to the flu, compared to roughly 1.5% being the result of COVID-19, according to CDC data.
Partial CDC data suggest that influenza deaths may have already reached as high as 2% of deaths for the week ending on Feb. 1, also surpassing COVID-19 mortality nationwide which was holding at around 1.5%.
In 22 states, the rate of influenza deaths has been outpacing COVID-19 deaths throughout the first five weeks of 2025.
Rates of influenza hospitalizations are more than three times higher than COVID-19 hospitalizations amid a record wave of flu infections in the US.
The CDC estimates that there have been at least 24 million flu illnesses and 13,000 deaths — including some 57 children — since the beginning of the flu season in October 2024.