The fast-spreading flu is now officially an epidemic. This year's flu season has come early—and hit hard. Nearly two dozen children have died. CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is live in Fort Worth, Texas with a mixed bag of details and some good news.
“The flu activity in this country has gone down a bit,” Cohen says. “Two weeks ago we were talking about 29 states having high levels of flu activity. Now we're talking about 24 states having high level of flu activity. That is good news.”
Meanwhile, the outbreak has reached a wider scale. “We’re seeing less flu in the United States, but it is spread out more. Geographically it has spread out to more locations,” Cohen explains. “So, to put that in terms of numbers, two weeks ago, 41 states were seeing widespread activity, meaning it was throughout various regions of their state. Now 47 states say they're seeing flu in various regions of their state. So spread out more, but the actual number of people who are having flu symptoms has actually gone down.”