More cases of the flu have been reported by this point in the year than is usual in Washington state…and around the country. In the first week of December, 3.2% of doctor visits nationwide were from people with a flu-like illness, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national baseline – which uses date from the previous three seasons – is 2.4%.
Washington is one of the places with particularly high flu activity, along with Nebraska, Puerto Rico and a swath of Southern states.