Flu kills 10 more children, bringing toll to 63 kids

David Goldman | AP

Reed Olson, 8, gets a flu shot at a Dekalb County health center in Decatur, Ga., Monday, Feb. 5, 2018.

An additional 10 children have died of flu in the U.S., bringing the total to 63 in a harsh season that is still going strong, federal health officials said Friday.

The flu was still widespread in 48 states and causing high levels of illness in 43 states in the week that ended Feb. 3, according to the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more from USA Today:
Got the flu? Here’s what works to lessen the misery
Amazon’s prepping its own delivery service: FedEx, UPS shares skid on report
Drugs, alcohol and suicides contribute to alarming drop in US life expectancy

In severe flu seasons like this one, the CDC estimates that up to 56,000 people, mostly older adults, die from complications. The agency does not keep an exact count of adult deaths, but closely tracks child deaths as one measure of a flu season’s severity. Nearly 150 children died in the last severe flu season in 2014-2015.

This flu season is now more than 11 weeks old, and the average flu season lasts 16 weeks. But some go for as long as 20 weeks, health officials say.