The number of older people hospitalized with the flu has risen sharply, prompting federal officials to take unusual steps to make more flu medicines available and to urge wider use of them as soon as symptoms appear.
The U.S. is about halfway through this flu season, and “it's shaping up to be a worse-than-average season” and a bad one for the elderly, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New figures from the CDC show widespread flu activity in all states but Tennessee and Hawaii. Flu activity is high in 30 states and New York City. The nation's death total this flu season is 29.
