8 things ASC leaders need to know this flu season

Here are eight updates on this year's flu season for ASC leaders to know that Becker's has reported since Nov. 29:

1. So far this season, the CDC estimates there have been at least 8.9 million flu illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths. 

2. The majority of influenza cases detected this season have been H3N2, an influenza A variant associated with more severe illness. Early data indicates this year's flu shots are a good match to the circulating strains.

3. The seven-day COVID-19 hospitalization average was 4,425 for the week ending Dec. 3, a 17.4 percent increase from the previous week's average. The agency expects COVID-19 admissions to continue to rise over the next four weeks and expects the number of COVID-19 admissions to hit 1,600 to 11,000 each day by Dec. 23.

4. The national shortage of oseltamivir, the generic of common flu drug Tamiflu, has seen a slight reprieve despite flu hospitalizations hiking and Tamiflu demand spiking weeks earlier than normal. As of Dec. 2, 10 oseltamivir products from five drugmakers were in short supply, The back-ordered and allocated products include three from Amneal Pharmaceuticals, three from Camber Pharmaceuticals, two from Macleods Pharma, one from Zydus Lifesciences and one from Teva Pharmaceuticals. 

5. Nebraska is reporting the highest percentage of influenzalike illness of all U.S. states, while New Hampshire is reporting the lowest. Nationwide, 7.5 percent of outpatient visits to a healthcare provider in the week ending Nov. 26 were for flu or other respiratory illnesses.

6. As of Dec. 2, the overall cumulative hospitalization rate for flu patients was 16.6 per 100,000 — that week's highest number since the corresponding week in 2010-11.

7. The FDA revoked the emergency use authorization for Eli Lilly's $2,100-per-vial COVID-19 drug Nov. 30 because two COVID-19 variants, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, lowered the treatment's efficacy by more than 672-fold. The drug, bebtelovimab, was the only monoclonal COVID-19 antibody treatment to be authorized.

8. Researchers at Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine are developing a universal flu vaccine using mRNA-based technology, and human clinical trials for the 20-subtype candidate are in the works. The universal vaccine candidate would not be for immunizing or completely preventing flu, but instead prompt a memory immune response for new pandemic viral strains.