Partial CDC data suggest that influenza deaths may have already reached as high as 2% of deaths for the week ending on Feb. 1, also surpassing COVID-19 mortality nationwide which was holding at around 1.5%. More complete data is expected to be published Friday.

During the first years of the COVID pandemic, elevated precautions mostly suppressed the perennial flu outbreaks that typically kill between 10,000 and 50,000 people annually in the United States.

Last year there were 207 pediatric deaths attributed to the flu, NBC News reported. The CDC said the number of cases is elevated and continues to increase. For the fifth week of the year, there were 4,377 cases reported with 4,264 being influenza A and 113 being B. The highest number of cases were found in 10 states and New York City.