The burden of influenza in the United States can vary from year to year depending on which viruses are circulating, how many people receive an influenza vaccination, and how effective the vaccination is in that particular year. During the 2019-2020 flu season, around 25,000 people lost their lives to the disease. Although most people recover from influenza without needing medical care, the disease can be deadly among young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems or chronic illnesses.

Deaths due to influenza Even though most people recover from influenza without medical care, influenza and pneumonia can be deadly, especially for older people and those with certain preexisting conditions. Influenza is a common cause of pneumonia and although most cases of influenza do not develop into pneumonia, those that do are often more severe and more deadly. Deaths due to influenza are most common among the elderly, with a mortality rate of around 7.4 per 100,000 population during the 2021-2022 flu season. In comparison, the mortality rate for those aged 50 to 64 years was just 1.2 per 100,000 population.

Flu vaccinations The most effective way to prevent influenza is to receive a yearly influenza vaccination. These vaccines have proven to be safe and are usually cheap and easily accessible. Nevertheless, every year a large share of the population in the United States still fails to get vaccinated against influenza. For example, in the 2021-2022 flu season only 37 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years received a flu vaccination. Unsurprisingly, children and the elderly are the most likely to get vaccinated. It is estimated that during the 2021-2022 flu season vaccinations prevented over 618 thousand influenza cases among children aged 6 months to 4 years.

During the 2022-2023 flu season in the United States, around 21,401 people died from influenza. The vast majority of deaths due to influenza occur among the elderly, with those aged 65 years and older accounting for 15,399 deaths during the 2022-2023 flu season. During this time, the mortality rate from influenza among those aged 65 years and older was around 26.6 per 100,000 population, compared to a mortality rate of .7 per 100,000 population among those aged 18 to 49 years. Influenza deaths Although most people recover from influenza without the need of medical care, influenza and pneumonia are still major causes of death in the United States. Influenza is a common cause of pneumonia and cases in which influenza develops into pneumonia tend to be more severe and more deadly. However, the impact of influenza varies from year to year depending on which viruses are circulating. For example, during the 2017-2018 flu season around 51,000 people died due to influenza, whereas in 2022-2023 total deaths amounted to 21,000. Preventing death The most effective way to prevent influenza is to receive a yearly influenza vaccination. These vaccines have proven to be safe and are usually cheap and easily accessible. Each year, flu vaccinations prevent thousands of influenza cases, hospitalizations and deaths. It was estimated that during the 2022-2023 flu season, vaccinations prevented the deaths of around 2,479 people aged 65 years and older.

The mortality rate from influenza in the United States is by far highest among those aged 65 years and older. During the 2022-2023 flu season the mortality rate from influenza for this age group was around 26.6 per 100,000 population.

The burden of influenza The impact of influenza in the U.S. varies from season to season, but in the 2022-2023 flu season there were an estimated 31 million cases. These cases resulted in around 360,000 hospitalizations. Although most people recover from influenza without requiring medical treatment, the disease can be deadly for young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems or chronic illnesses. During the 2022-2023 flu season, around 21,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives due to influenza.

Impact of vaccinations The most effective way to prevent influenza is to receive a yearly vaccination at the beginning of flu season. Flu vaccines are safe and can greatly reduce the burden of the disease. During the 2022-2023 flu season vaccinations prevented around 2,479 deaths among those aged 65 years and older. Although flu vaccines are usually cheap and easily accessible, every year a large share of the population in the U.S. still does not get vaccinated. For example, during the 2021-2022 flu season only about 37 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years received a flu vaccination.

Influenza, also called the flu, is one of the most infectious diseases worldwide. Its symptoms range from mild to severe, and include sore throat, cough, runny nose, fever, headache, and muscle pain, but can also cause severe illness and death among high-risk populations such as the elderly and children. During the 2022-2023 flu season, there were 31 million cases of influenza in the United States.

Influenza deaths Although influenza does not require medical attention for most people, it can be deadly, and causes thousands of deaths every year. The impact of influenza varies from year to year. The number of influenza deaths during the 2021-2022 flu season was 4,977. The vast majority of deaths attributed to influenza during the 2021-2022 flu season occurred among those aged 65 years and older.

Vaccination An annual influenza vaccination remains the most effective way of preventing influenza. During the 2021-2022 flu season, influenza vaccinations prevented an estimated 867 deaths among U.S. adults aged 65 years and older. Although, flu vaccinations are accessible and cheap, a large share of the United States population still fails to get vaccinated every year. In 2021-2022, only 37 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years received a flu vaccination, much lower compared to children and the elderly.

Project Tycho datasets contain case counts for reported disease conditions for countries around the world. The Project Tycho data curation team extracts these case counts from various reputable sources, typically from national or international health authorities, such as the US Centers for Disease Control or the World Health Organization. These original data sources include both open- and restricted-access sources. For restricted-access sources, the Project Tycho team has obtained permission for redistribution from data contributors. All datasets contain case count data that are identical to counts published in the original source and no counts have been modified in any way by the Project Tycho team. The Project Tycho team has pre-processed datasets by adding new variables, such as standard disease and location identifiers, that improve data interpretabilty. We also formatted the data into a standard data format.

Each Project Tycho dataset contains case counts for a specific condition (e.g. measles) and for a specific country (e.g. The United States). Case counts are reported per time interval. In addition to case counts, datsets include information about these counts (attributes), such as the location, age group, subpopulation, diagnostic certainty, place of aquisition, and the source from which we extracted case counts. One dataset can include many series of case count time intervals, such as "US measles cases as reported by CDC", or "US measles cases reported by WHO", or "US measles cases that originated abroad", etc.

Depending on the intended use of a dataset, we recommend a few data processing steps before analysis:

• Analyze missing data: Project Tycho datasets do not inlcude time intervals for which no case count was reported (for many datasets, time series of case counts are incomplete, due to incompleteness of source documents) and users will need to add time intervals for which no count value is available. Project Tycho datasets do include time intervals for which a case count value of zero was reported.
• Separate cumulative from non-cumulative time interval series. Case count time series in Project Tycho datasets can be "cumulative" or "fixed-intervals". Cumulative case count time series consist of overlapping case count intervals starting on the same date, but ending on different dates. For example, each interval in a cumulative count time series can start on January 1st, but end on January 7th, 14th, 21st, etc. It is common practice among public health agencies to report cases for cumulative time intervals. Case count series with fixed time intervals consist of mutually exxclusive time intervals that all start and end on different dates and all have identical length (day, week, month, year). Given the different nature of these two types of case count data, we indicated this with an attribute for each count value, named "PartOfCumulativeCountSeries".

Influenza and pneumonia caused around 12.3 deaths in the U.S. per 100,000 population in 2019. Influenza and pneumonia are among the leading causes of death in the United States, accounting for around 1.6 percent of all deaths in 2020. Influenza, or the flu, is a viral infection that is highly contagious and especially common in the winter season. Influenza is a common cause of pneumonia, although most cases of the flu do not develop into pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection or inflammation of the lungs and is particularly deadly among young children and the elderly.

Influenza cases

Influenza is very common in the United States, with an estimated 35 million cases reported in 2019-2020. Common symptoms of the flu include cough, fever, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat and headache. Symptoms can be mild but can also be severe enough to require medical attention. In 2019-2020, there were around 16 million influenza-related medical visits in the United States.

Prevention

To prevent contracting the flu people can take everyday precautions such as regularly washing their hands and avoiding those who are sick, but the best way to prevent the flu is by receiving the flu vaccination every year. Receiving a flu vaccination is especially important for young children and the elderly as they are most susceptible to flu complications and associated death. In 2021, around 75 percent of those aged 65 years and older received a flu vaccine, while only 38 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years had done so.

Over 12 million people in the United States died from all causes between the beginning of January 2020 and August 21, 2023. Over 1.1 million of those deaths were with confirmed or presumed COVID-19.

Vaccine rollout in the United States Finding a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine was an urgent health priority since the very start of the pandemic. In the United States, the first two vaccines were authorized and recommended for use in December 2020. One has been developed by Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna, and the number of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines administered in the U.S. was over 250 million. Moderna has also said that its vaccine is effective against the coronavirus variants first identified in the UK and South Africa.

This file contains the provisional percent of total deaths by week for COVID-19, Influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus for deaths occurring among residents in the United States. Provisional data are based on non-final counts of deaths based on the flow of mortality data in National Vital Statistics System.

Following the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 1918, which came to be known as the Spanish Flu, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia soared. Pneumonia was caused either by the influenza or by a bacterial superinfection that took hold due to the patient's weakened state as a result of the influenza, for this reason, influenza deaths and pneumonia deaths were recorded together as one. Pennsylvania had the highest mortality rate due to the pandemic, where there were over 880 fatalities per 100,000 people; meaning that approximately 0.9 percent of the state's population died from the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918.

When compared with the 1915 mortality rates, many states, such as California and Pennsylvania, saw their mortality rate due to influenza and pneumonia increase five-fold by 1818, which was the worst year of the pandemic. While the mortality rate decreased significantly in the year 1919, there was no US state where it fell to it's pre-pandemic level, and the 1919 mortality rate was still double the pre-pandemic rate in some states such as California, South Carolina and Washington.

This file contains the complete set of data reported to 122 Cities Mortality Reposting System. The system was retired as of 10/6/2016. While the system was running each week, the vital statistics offices of 122 cities across the United States reported the total number of death certificates processed and the number of those for which pneumonia or influenza was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of death by age group (Under 28 days, 28 days - 1 year, 1-14 years, 15-24 years, 25-44 years, 45-64 years, 65-74 years, 75-84 years, and - 85 years). U:Unavailable. - : No reported cases.* Mortality data in this table were voluntarily reported from 122 cities in the United States, most of which have populations of >100,000. A death is reported by the place of its occurrence and by the week that the death certificate was filed. Fetal deaths are not included. Total includes unknown ages.
More information on Flu Activity & Surveillance is available at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivitysurv.htm.

Context

Dataset aims to facilitate a state by state comparison of potential risk factors that may heighten Covid 19 transmission rates or deaths. It includes state by state estimates of: covid 19 positives/deaths, flu/pneumonia deaths, major city population densities, available hospital resources, high risk health condition prevalance, population over 60, and means of work transportation rates.

Content

The Data Includes:

1) Covid 19 Outcome Stats:

Covid_Death : Covid Deaths by State

Covid_Positive : Covid Positive Tests by State

2) US Major City Population Density by State: CBSA_Major_City_max_weighted_density

3) KFF Estimates of Total Hospital Beds by State:

Kaiser_Total_Hospital_Beds

4) 2018 Season Flu and Pneumonia Death Stats:

FLUVIEW_TOTAL_PNEUMONIA_DEATHS_Season_2018

FLUVIEW_TOTAL_INFLUENZA_DEATHS_Season_2018

5)US Total Rates of Flu Hospitalization by Underlying Condition:

Fluview_US_FLU_Hospitalization_Rate_....

6) State by State BRFSS Prevalance Rates of Conditions Associated with Higher Flu Hospitalization Rates

BRFSS_Diabetes_Prevalance BRFSS_Asthma_Prevalance BRFSS_COPD_Prevalance
BRFSS_Obesity BMI Prevalance BRFSS_Other_Cancer_Prevalance BRFSS_Kidney_Disease_Prevalance BRFSS_Obesity BMI Prevalance BRFSS_2017_High_Cholestoral_Prevalance BRFSS_2017_High_Blood_Pressure_Prevalance Census_Population_Over_60

7)State by state breakdown of Means of Work Transpotation:

COMMUTE_Census_Worker_Public_Transportation_Rate

Acknowledgements

Links to data sources:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/states/

https://covidtracking.com/data/

https://gis.cdc.gov/GRASP/Fluview/FluHospRates.html https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/state-data-and-policy-actions-to-address-coronavirus/#stateleveldata

https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=United%20States&tid=ACSDP1Y2018.DP05&hidePreview=true&vintage=2018&layer=VT_2018_040_00_PY_D1&cid=S0103_C01_001E

Tables: ACSST1Y2018.S1811 ACSST1Y2018.S0102

https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2012/dec/c2010sr-01-density.html

https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/mortality.html

Inspiration

I hope to show the existence of correlations that warrant a deeper county by county analysis to identify areas of increased risk requiring increased resource allocation or increased attention to preventative measures.

NNDSS - TABLE 1R. Hepatitis C, perinatal infection to Influenza-associated pediatric mortality - 2022. In this Table, provisional cases* of notifiable diseases are displayed for United States, U.S. territories, and Non-U.S. residents. Notes: • These are weekly cases of selected infectious national notifiable diseases, from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). NNDSS data reported by the 50 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories are collated and published weekly as numbered tables available at https://www.cdc.gov/nndss/data-statistics/index.html. Cases reported by state health departments to CDC for weekly publication are subject to ongoing revision of information and delayed reporting. Therefore, numbers listed in later weeks may reflect changes made to these counts as additional information becomes available. Case counts in the tables are presented as published each week. See also Guide to Interpreting Provisional and Finalized NNDSS Data at https://www.cdc.gov/nndss/docs/Readers-Guide-WONDER-Tables-20210421-508.pdf. • Notices, errata, and other notes are available in the Notice To Data Users page at https://wonder.cdc.gov/nndss/NTR.html. • The list of national notifiable infectious diseases and conditions and their national surveillance case definitions are available at https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/. This list incorporates the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) position statements approved by CSTE for national surveillance. Footnotes: *Case counts for reporting years 2021 and 2022 are provisional and subject to change. Cases are assigned to the reporting jurisdiction submitting the case to NNDSS, if the case's country of usual residence is the U.S., a U.S. territory, unknown, or null (i.e. country not reported); otherwise, the case is assigned to the 'Non-U.S. Residents' category. Country of usual residence is currently not reported by all jurisdictions or for all conditions. For further information on interpretation of these data, see https://www.cdc.gov/nndss/docs/Readers-Guide-WONDER-Tables-20210421-508.pdf. †Previous 52 week maximum and cumulative YTD are determined from periods of time when the condition was reportable in the jurisdiction (i.e., may be less than 52 weeks of data or incomplete YTD data). § Please refer to the CDC WONDER publication for weekly updates to the footnote for this condition. U: Unavailable — The reporting jurisdiction was unable to send the data to CDC or CDC was unable to process the data. -: No reported cases — The reporting jurisdiction did not submit any cases to CDC. N: Not reportable — The disease or condition was not reportable by law, statute, or regulation in the reporting jurisdiction. NN: Not nationally notifiable — This condition was not designated as being nationally notifiable. NP: Nationally notifiable but not published. NC: Not calculated — There is insufficient data available to support the calculation of this statistic. Cum: Cumulative year-to-date counts. Max: Maximum — Maximum case count during the previous 52 weeks.

This statistic shows the estimated number of people who died in the United States during influenza pandemics. During the Spanish flu from 1918 to 1919 around 675,000 people in the U.S. were estimated to have died. More recently, around 12,469 people died from the swine flu or H1N1 pandemic in 2009.

In the United States, the highest rate of hospitalizations due to influenza are among those aged 65 years and older. During the 2022-2023 flu season, the rate of hospitalizations due to influenza among this age group was about 332 per 100,000 population, compared to a rate of around 46 per 100,000 for those aged 5 to 17 years. Influenza is a common viral infection that usually does not require medical treatment. However, for the very young, the old, and those with certain pre-existing conditions, influenza can be serious and even deadly.

The burden of influenza in the United States The impact of influenza in the United States varies from year to year depending on the strain that is most prevalent during that season and the immunity in the population. Nevertheless, influenza and pneumonia are often among the top ten causes of death in the United States. Preliminary estimates show that around 21,000 people died from influenza during the 2022-2023 flu season. However, during the 2017-2018 flu season, an estimated 51,000 people lost their lives to influenza.

The importance of flu vaccines The best way to avoid catching the flu and to reduce the virus’s overall burden on society is by receiving an annual flu vaccination. The CDC currently recommends that everyone over 6 months of age should get a flu vaccination every year, preferably by the end of October. The flu vaccine is safe, efficient, and reduces the number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths caused by the virus. For example, during the 2018-2019 flu season it was estimated that vaccinations averted around 58 thousand influenza-related hospitalizations. However, despite the proven benefits and wide availability of flu vaccinations, a large percentage of people in the United States fail to receive a vaccination every year. During the 2021-2022 flu season, only about 37 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years were vaccinated against influenza, compared to 74 percent of those aged 65 years and older.

During the 2022-2023 influenza season, the influenza vaccination prevented an estimated 2,479 deaths among adults aged 65 years and older. This statistic shows the estimated number of influenza A- and B-associated deaths prevented by influenza vaccination in the U.S. during the 2022-2023 influenza season, by age group.

Seasonal epidemics of influenza virus result in ∼36,000 deaths annually in the United States. Current vaccines against influenza virus elicit an antibody response specific for the envelope glycoproteins. However, high mutation rates result in the emergence of new viral serotypes, which elude neutralization by preexisting antibodies. T lymphocytes have been reported to be capable of mediating heterosubtypic protection through recognition of internal, more conserved, influenza virus proteins. Here, we demonstrate using a recombinant influenza virus expressing the LCMV GP33-41 epitope that influenza virus-specific CD8+ T cells and virus-specific non-neutralizing antibodies each are relatively ineffective at conferring heterosubtypic protective immunity alone. However, when combined virus-specific CD8 T cells and non-neutralizing antibodies cooperatively elicit robust protective immunity. This synergistic improvement in protective immunity is dependent, at least in part, on alveolar macrophages and/or other lung phagocytes. Overall, our studies suggest that an influenza vaccine capable of eliciting both CD8+ T cells and antibodies specific for highly conserved influenza proteins may be able to provide heterosubtypic protection in humans, and act as the basis for a potential “universal” vaccine.

In the United States, influenza vaccination rates differ greatly by age. For example, during the 2022-2023 flu season, around 70 percent of those aged 65 years and older received an influenza vaccination, compared to just 35 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years. The CDC recommends that everyone six months and older in the United States should get vaccinated against influenza every year, with a few exceptions. Although influenza is mild for most people it can lead to hospitalization and even death, especially among the young, the old, and those with certain preexisting conditions.

The impact of flu vaccinations Flu vaccinations are safe and effective, preventing thousands of illnesses, medical visits, and deaths every year. However, the effectiveness of flu vaccines varies each year depending on what flu viruses are circulating that season and the age and health status of the person receiving the vaccination. During the 2022-2023 flu season it was estimated that influenza vaccination prevented almost 31 thousand hospitalizations among those aged 65 years and older. In addition, flu vaccinations prevented 2,479 deaths among those aged 65 years and older as well as 63 deaths among children six months to four years.

The burden of influenza The impact of influenza is different from season to season. However, during the 2022-2023 flu season there were around 31 million cases of influenza in the United States. Furthermore, there were around 21,000 deaths due to influenza, an increase from the previous year but significantly fewer than in 2017-2018 when influenza contributed to 51,000 deaths. Most of these deaths are among the elderly. In 2022-2023 the death rate due to influenza among those aged 65 years and older was around 26.6 per 100,000 population. In comparison, those aged 18 to 49 years had an influenza death rate of just .7 per 100,000 population.

In 2020, Mexico reported nearly 4.8 thousand influenza cases of the types A and B, while Brazil registered a total of 1,391 cases that year. In contrast, Peru had the lowest number of influenza infections among the ones depicted, with only 68 cases.

As of January 6, 2022, an average of 1,192 people per day have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. since the first case was confirmed in the country on January 20th the year before. On an average day, nearly 8,000 people die from all causes in the United States, based on data from 2019. Based on the latest information, roughly one in seven deaths each day were related to COVID-19 between January 2020 and January 2022. However, there were even days when more than every second death in the U.S. was connected to COVID-19. The daily death toll from the seasonal flu, using preliminary maximum estimates from the 2019-2020 influenza season, stood at an average of around 332 people. We have to keep in mind that a comparison of influenza and COVID-19 is somewhat difficult. COVID-19 cases and deaths are counted continuously since the begin of the pandemic, whereas flue counts are seasonal and often less accurate. Furthermore, during the last two years, COVID-19 more or less 'replaced' the flu, with COVID-19 absorbing potential flu cases. Many countries reported a very weak seasonal flu activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it has yet to be seen how the two infectious diseases will develop side by side during the winter season 2021/2022 and in the years to come.

Symptoms and self-isolation COVID-19 and influenza share similar symptoms – a cough, runny nose, and tiredness – and telling the difference between the two can be difficult. If you have minor symptoms, there is no need to seek urgent medical care, but it is recommended that you self-isolate, whereas rules vary from country to country. Additionally, rules depend on someone's vaccination status and infection history. However, if you think you have the disease, a diagnostic test can show if you have an active infection.

Scientists alert to coronavirus mutations The genetic material of the novel coronavirus is RNA, not DNA. Other notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses include SARS, Ebola, and influenza. A continual problem that vaccine developers encounter is that viruses can mutate, and a treatment developed against a certain virus type may not work on a mutated form. The seasonal flu vaccine, for example, is different each year because influenza viruses are frequently mutating, and it is critical that those genetic changes continue to be tracked.