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More Californians are dying from the flu than Covid right now, according to state health officials.
The rate of flu-related deaths has shot up to 3.4 percent, compared to its 1.5 percent peak in years prior, the state’s latest respiratory virus report found. Whereas, the rate of Covid-related deaths sits at 1.3 percent.
There have been 11 pediatric deaths from influenza and just three from Covid in the state.
The flu has also resulted in more hospitalizations than Covid, with the rate of new flu admissions more than four times the rate of new Covid admissions.
“Influenza activity remains high. RSV activity is low and decreasing. COVID-19 activity is low,” the report said.
“Over the last several weeks, we have seen an increase in flu cases and hospitalizations,” California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Erica Pan said in a statement.
Grant Boyken, a spokesman for the agency, told The Sacramento Bee that the death rate in early February 2024 was only 0.4 percent. He noted that it’s normal for the flu’s severity to differ each year based on changes in the specific strain circulating along with “other factors.”
The University of California-Davis Children’s Hospital in Sacramento has seen “five or 10 times more influenza (patients) than COVID (patients)” in 2025 alone,” Dr. Dean Blumberg, the hospital’s chief of pediatric infectious diseases, told the paper.
“This is a busy time of year, but we certainly have the capacity (to handle influenza cases),” he noted.
Levels of flu across the country have been the highest for decades, forcing school closures and hospitals to restrict entry. Every one of the lower 48 states has at least ‘moderate” levels of influenza, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. California has a “high” level, while the neighboring Pacific Northwest is “very high.”
Since October, the agency estimates there have been between 29 and 51 million flu illnesses, between 16,000 and 79,000 deaths and between 370,000 and 820,000 hospitalizations nationwide.
To greatly reduce the risk of contracting the flu, people should get vaccinated.
“As long as flu is circulating in our communities, it’s not too late to get your flu vaccine, so we encourage all Californians who have not yet received their flu vaccine to get vaccinated,” Pan said. “As a parent and a pediatrician, I ensure my family gets flu vaccine every year because I am confident the flu vaccine is safe and can help prevent serious illness like pneumonia and hospitalization.”
Even for those who experience breakthrough cases, the vaccine can still have a benefit.
“People who get influenza despite vaccination … recover faster,” Blumberg said.
