Written by 
If you are feeling under the weather, it’s definitely not just you. The CDC says Tennessee’s flu-like illness activity has reached “very high” levels.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee currently has one of the highest percentages of flu-like illness activity in the United States, according to recent health reports.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tennessee is currently seeing “very high” flu and flu-like activity, which is the highest activity level. The trend showed flu-like illnesses and lab-tested flu cases continued to rise.
No deaths have been reported so far in Tennessee children. The state only tracks and reports pediatric deaths.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health’s most recent flu report from the week ending on Dec. 28, East Tennessee is experiencing the highest levels of flu-like activity currently. The report said the percentage of overall outpatient visits for flu-like illness was either high or very high across the area. Knox County showed minimal flu activity compared to the rest of the area.
According to TDH, flu-like illness is classified as a patient having a fever plus a cough or a sore throat and is tracked by hospital and clinic visits. The state said this metric is not limited to lab-confirmed flu cases, but it is rising alongside lab-confirmed flu cases. This means the spike in flu-like illnesses can include the flu spreading alongside other infections with similar symptoms, such as COVID and RSV.
Tennessee labs received a total of 161 specimens to test, and said 17% of those tested positive for flu. The most prevalent strains that appeared in the tests were variants of Flu A, including H1N1, H3 and the unsubtyped variants.
According to the CDC, seasonal flu activity continues to increase across the U.S. and it estimates at least 5.3 million people have gotten sick this season. Two pediatric deaths elsewhere in the U.S. were reported this week, increasing the total number of pediatric deaths this flu season to 11. The CDC estimated at least 2,700 people have died from the flu this season.
Health officials also confirmed a person in Louisiana who had been in contact with sick or dead birds had died from the bird flu, which is the first known death ever from the bird flu in the U.S.
Since March, 66 bird flu infections have been reported in the U.S., but the majority of those illnesses have been mild and reported among farmworkers who had sick poultry or dairy cows.