(The Center Square) – Dr. Lynn Fitzgibbons hasn’t seen a flu season this bad at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital since the pre-COVID-19 era.
“It has been staggering to see the surge in inpatient numbers this season, knowing there is at least another month or two of heavy inpatient days still ahead,” said Fitzgibbons, medical director for infection prevention and control at Cottage Health. “The outpatient side is just as remarkable.”
It’s only March, but Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital already has seen twice as many flu cases as last season, Fitzgibbons told The Center Square.
Similar stories are being reported elsewhere as California and the U.S. deal with the worst flu season since pre-pandemic times, although cases have fallen from the high numbers reported in February.
The number has decreased for four consecutive weeks, but the flu season isn’t over, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday at cdc.gov.
“The season has peaked; however, flu-related medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths remain elevated, and CDC expects several more weeks of flu activity,” the agency said.
The 2024-25 season is the first flu season with “high severity” since 2017-2018, the CDC said.
The CDC estimated there have been at least 41 million illnesses, 540,000 hospitalizations and 23,000 deaths from the flu so far this season across the U.S.
“This winter, flu has caused more hospitalizations than COVID-19 for all age groups,” the California Public Health Department told The Center Square.
But the number of cases is falling, from what the state called “very high at 26.7%” for test positivity for the week ending Feb. 8 to a more moderate 13.4% by the end of the week ending March 8, according to the California public health website.
“Influenza activity is moderate and continues to decrease,” the health department said on the website, noting most positive flu specimens are type A with both H1 and H3 strains.
In San Diego County, the number of flu cases nearly doubled from last season.
The county’s Health and Human Services Agency saw the number of flu cases climb to 35,707 for June 30, 2024 through March 8, 2025, Group Communications Officer Fernanda Lopez told The Center Square. “At this time last year, there were 16,757 and 19,035 for the entire fiscal year, which ended July 1, 2024.”
The number of the county’s flu-related deaths more than tripled, from 60 last season to the 184 deaths since June 30, Lopez said.
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital reported treating 139 inpatients and 1,532 outpatients in its Emergency Department and Urgent Care area from Sept. 1, 2023, to Aug. 31, 2024. From Sept. 1, 2024 to March 4, 2025, the numbers rose to 151 inpatients and 3,360 outpatients in the Emergency and Urgent Care units.
One effective way to keep people out of the hospital is a vaccination for everyone 6 months and older, physicians and the CDC have stressed repeatedly.
As long as the flu is circulating, Californians are encouraged to get vaccinated, Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Public Health Department and the state public officer, told The Center Square. “As a parent and a pediatrician, I ensure my family gets the flu vaccine every year because I am confident the flu vaccine is safe and can help prevent serious illness like pneumonia and hospitalization.”
Fewer Californians have received the vaccine than in previous years, the health department said.
Although vaccinated individuals may get the flu, they’re less likely than unvaccinated individuals to need a doctor’s visit or hospitalization, including time in an Intensive Care Unit, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department told The Center Square in an email.
Vaccines are available at pharmacies, community health centers and through healthcare providers. Public health officials note it’s covered by insurance. Uninsured people can get the vaccine for free at their county’s public health centers.
The Los Angeles County Public Health Department said it didn’t have numbers on flu cases, but noted on March 3 that “a collection of indicators” suggests flu activity has been high. The department said the high flu activity has lasted longer than usual.
In addition, deaths from the flu went up this season, the department noted. As of late February, 202 people in Los Angeles County died from the flu during the 2024-25 season. The number of deaths was 126 during 2023-24.
A more dramatic increase was seen in the 65-and-older group, the segment with most of the flu-related deaths in Los Angeles County. The health department reported 159 deaths in 2024-25, almost twice that of the 81 deaths in 2023-24.
The CDC said other high-risk populations include children younger than 2 and people with asthma, heart disease, chronic lung disease, neurologic and neurodevelopment conditions, weakened immune systems and blood. endocrine, kidney disorders or liver disorders. The CDC’s full list is at cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/index.htm.
“Women who are pregnant are particularly susceptible to influenza infections,” said Fitzgibbons of Cottage Health in Santa Barbara.
“Patients we’ve seen with influenza are mostly in one of the higher-risk categories,” she said.
The California Public Health Department in February said it received reports of flu-related deaths of 11 children. “This is a reminder that influenza can cause severe illness in people of all ages.”
There are occasionally hospital patients during every severe flu season who don’t fall in the high-risk groups and are middle age and younger, Fitzgibbons said. “It’s another sign that influenza does not discriminate. It can infect anyone.”
