Flu cases surge ahead of last year's level on Long Island

Influenza is cutting an early, harsh swath across Long Island and the state, with the number of cases surging and running at least two weeks ahead of where they were at this time last year.

There were over 24,000 lab-confirmed cases in the state as of Dec. 6. Last year, which turned out to be a severe flu season, the state reached 25,000 cases on Dec. 28. Cases on Long Island are also surpassing those reported during the same time in 2024, according to state Department of Health data. 

RSV and COVID-19 infections are also increasing, though flu is rising most rapidly, Dr. Dwayne Breining, senior vice president of lab services at Northwell Health, said Thursday during a briefing at Core Lab in Lake Success.

"It’s about two or three weeks ahead of how quickly it rose last year," he said. "Last year was one of the biggest flu seasons on record."

Hospitalizations due to influenza jumped 75% in the state for the week ending Dec. 6 and lab-confirmed cases increased by almost 30%, according to the latest state Health Department data.

RSV and COVID are below levels last year. Experts believe the new RSV vaccine, administered over the last year, is helping keep cases at bay.

"We are not seeing a lot of RSV in our pediatric population, which is great news," said Dr. Annemarie Stroustrup, who oversees pediatric services at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. "New vaccines on the market for babies and pregnant women are working," she said. "That’s really important because the pediatric hospital is full right now" with flu cases and other health issues.

Medical experts said other factors that impact the flu season include low vaccination rates, a variant that can’t completely be tamed by the current shot and a barrage of confusing and misleading information from federal health officials.

A new form of H3N2, one of the influenza viruses, called subclade K emerged late in the Southern Hemisphere's season. 

"It has mutations that may allow it to evade some, but not all, of the influenza vaccine-induced protection," said Andy Pekosz, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center of Excellence in Influenza Research and Response, during a briefing earlier in the week by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "The H1N1 and IBV viruses circulating look to be good matches to the vaccine."

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend the flu shot for everyone 6 months and older, it discontinued a public service campaign aimed at promoting flu shots.

Additionally, federal health officials are no longer recommending hepatitis B shots for all newborn babies, and changed language on the CDC website to say there is no "evidence-based" proof that vaccines do not cause autism.

"It’s really hard for the public and parents to know how to wrestle with this information," Breining said. "Maybe 25 years ago it was reasonable to think that there might be a link between autism and the accelerated vaccine dosages and schedules. But that has been disproven a bunch of different ways since then, definitively. And for that to be mentioned now at the federal level is just absurd."

Only 23% of eligible New Yorkers have received their flu shot as of Dec. 17. That includes 19% in Suffolk County and 23% in Nassau County.

Infectious disease experts urged Long Islanders to get vaccinated, saying it will still help protect them from hospitalization and life-threatening illness.

"People come up to me and say ‘I'm not taking the vaccine because I took the vaccine, I got the flu,’ ‘’ said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of public health and epidemiology at Northwell Health. "And I said, ‘Yeah, but I'll bet you weren't in the hospital, and you're alive to tell me about it.’ "

He expects flu deaths to outpace COVID deaths this year, including in children.

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.