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Flu cases are surging in Michigan, state health experts say, as the flu season has hit harder and earlier than it typically does, according to several local health systems.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has recorded 2,110 influenza-related hospitalizations this flu season, including 306 among children ages 4 and under. The disease is responsible for “at least” eight U.S. pediatric deaths this season, said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state’s chief medical executive.
“We’re hearing from (pediatric hospitals and other facilities that treat children) those influenza cases are increasing exponentially,” said Bagdasarian on Wednesday during a virtual media roundtable with other experts. “They’re also seeing a massive influx of influenza cases in their ICUs and on ventilators. Again, these are pediatric cases.”
Ryan Malosh, director of the Division of Immunization at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said Michigan is seeing a 40% increase in hospitalizations due to flu compared to this time last year.
“This flu season … is hitting earlier and it is worringly severe,” Malosh said.
According to state data, there were more than 1,400 hospital admissions associated with acute respiratory virus for the week ending Dec. 27, the latest week for which data is available. Among those, 929 admissions were for influenza, 378 were for COVID-19 and 128 were for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The flu accounted for 8% of all patient visits to emergency departments around the state the week of Christmas, up from 6.7% for the same week in 2024. Children up to age 17 accounted for more than 69% of all emergency department visits for acute respiratory virus.
“Flu is not a mild illness for many children,” said Dr. Aarti Raheja, a pediatrician and clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan Medicine. “Every year, children become seriously ill from flu complications that could have been prevented with vaccination. Some require intensive care, and most children and adolescents who die from the flu are unvaccinated.”
Government data posted Monday for flu activity through the week of Christmas showed that by some measures the season is surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history, the Associated Press reported.
Local health systems respond to outbreak
Dr. Jason Vieder, an emergency department physician and vice chairman of emergency medicine at Henry Ford Health, said the flu season has “certainly been more robust” than previous years, and the health system is seeing higher numbers earlier in the season.
From Dec. 14 to 20, 222 flu-positive patients were hospitalized across Henry Ford Health’s 13 acute care hospitals, which are located in southeast Michigan and Jackson, according to Henry Ford Health. That number reflects any instance in which a flu-positive patient was occupying a hospital bed, regardless of the reason for admission.
Henry Ford Health’s flu-positive hospitalizations have since decreased. The most recent data shows that 174 flu-positive patients were admitted to hospitals in the system between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3.
Meanwhile, Henry Ford Health’s flu positivity rate has exceeded 25% for the past three weeks, peaking at 33% during the week of Dec. 21 to 27. The week of Dec. 28, the flu positivity rate dipped to just over 26%. Those figures don’t include legacy Ascension sites.
Vieder hypothesized that the positivity rate improved in the week of Dec. 28 because children had been out of school for a couple of weeks.
“I would guess that that is part of why we’ve seen a little bit of a dip in our numbers,” he said, “because you’re just not having large groups of people all together where illness can be more readily spread.”
Mary Masson, senior director of public relations for Michigan Medicine, said the health system is also seeing a high number of emergency department visits and a high number of patients hospitalized with flu so far, although very few requiring intensive care unit care.
She also noted that the season started earlier than last season, and on Wednesday afternoon, there were 25 patients in Michigan Medicine’s adult hospitals in Ann Arbor with flu, which is roughly twice the number it had at this time last year.
Masson said it is “still too early to know how severe” the flu season will be.
“Last year (winter 24-25) was the worst flu season we have had in terms of hospitalizations in Michigan in 15+ years so it will be hard to top that season, although there is chance we could,” she said in an email. “Right now, however, it is too early to predict with any confidence.”