Health Team

In a year, NC flu deaths drop from 186 to just 5

Only five North Carolinians have died from the flu since the season began in late September. In that timeframe, almost 7500 have lost their lives to COVID.

Posted Updated

By
Ali Ingersoll
, WRAL data journalist
RALEIGH, N.C. — Social distancing and mask wearing isn't only slowing the spread of COVID-19 but also the flu.
So far this year, 125 Americans have died from the flu, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's less than 4% of deaths during the same time period last year, when 3422 people died from the flu.

To get an accurate comparison, WRAL Data Trackers extracted information for the first seven weeks of each year dating back to 2014. The most deadly year was 2018, when 9,557 died from the flu in the beginning of the year. While 2016 was relatively low – with 450 deaths in the early weeks of the year – that's still more than 2.5 times higher than the number this year.

In North Carolina, the number of deaths caused by the flu has dropped significantly too. During the previous flu season, 186 North Carolinians died. This year, that number is down to five so far this flu season, which runs from Sept. 29 through May 8.

Meanwhile, 7,694 North Carolina residents have died from the coronavirus since late September.

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