Deck the halls with masks and sanitizer: NYC’s flu outbreak could hamper holiday plans
Gothamist••health
Key Points:
- Flu cases in New York are rising earlier than usual this year, driven by a mutated variant of the H3N2 strain, called subclade K, which is less responsive to vaccines.
- Health experts recommend vaccination to reduce severe symptoms and protect against other circulating flu strains, despite the variant’s ability to infect more people.
- Flu vaccination rates have declined, with 3.4 million New Yorkers vaccinated by mid-November, about 5% fewer than last year, and a 6.5% drop in flu shots among nearly 500,000 NYC children.
- Schools are significantly impacted, with some experiencing high absenteeism and closures, such as Poly Prep Country Day School, which closed temporarily to allow recovery and
