Flu season is arriving months early, and it's starting in the West

Fall has barely begun, but flu season appears to be here already. Public health researchers say influenza activity started climbing in early September, a month or two ahead of its usual schedule, and that it began in an unexpected part of the country.

"There are enough signs pointing in the same direction to make me think, 'OK, yes. This is the start of flu season,'" said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Two unusual signs

The share of people testing positive for flu in Western states has risen steadily since early September, and emergency department visits for flu have been rising for weeks. That kind of activity normally shows up in November or December.

The geography is odd, too. Flu seasons typically take off in the South and spread from there. This year, the earliest increases have come in California, Washington, Hawaii and Alaska. Rivers stressed that overall flu levels are still low in most of the country, but she said that picture is beginning to change.

A new variant may be the reason

Researchers do not yet know exactly why flu has arrived early, but one leading suspect is a new variant carrying a mutation that appears to help it slip past existing immunity, particularly among teenagers.

At the University of Washington, doctors are seeing about as much flu now as they usually would around Christmas, according to virologist Dr. Alex Greninger, who leads the university's infectious disease diagnostics. He said the mutated variant appears to be common in the samples his lab is testing.

Get the shot sooner

Because of the early start, infectious disease experts are urging people not to wait until late fall for their vaccine. "It's crucial that people get an influenza vaccine," said Scott Hensley, a virologist at the University of Pennsylvania. "And this might be a year that people might want to get a vaccine early."

Flu shots are widely available at pharmacies, clinics and many workplaces, and are recommended for nearly everyone 6 months and older. Vaccination is especially important for older adults, pregnant people, young children and people with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease, who face the highest risk of severe illness.

A quieter CDC

What is missing this year, critics say, is the federal government's usual public push. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not been promoting flu shots as it typically does under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic.

"It is disappointing that CDC is quiet given that flu kills hundreds of kids a year," said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned last year as director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases in protest of what he described as political interference.

A CDC spokesperson said the agency is developing a communications strategy to share information about flu vaccination, including "the benefits and risks of vaccination to support informed decision-making."

Protecting your household

Beyond vaccination, doctors recommend familiar steps: staying home when sick, washing hands often, covering coughs, and seeing a doctor quickly if symptoms are severe. Antiviral medications work best when started within a couple of days of symptoms, so people at high risk should call their health care provider early.

The early season comes as the country is also dealing with its worst measles year in decades and a large dengue outbreak in Florida, stretching local health departments that are already short on staff and funding. For families heading into school, sports and holiday travel season, health officials say the simplest step is also the most effective: get the flu shot now rather than later.