The worst of California's rough flu season appears to be over. A senior state public health official says this year’s season reached its disturbingly high peak around New Year's.
People should remain vigilant, however, because "we’re still very much in the middle of it," said Dr. James Watt, Chief of Communicable Disease Control at the California Department of Public Health.
Like in much of the rest of the country, the flu hit California hard this season. By the end of last week, 185 Californians under age 65 had died from flu in the state. By the same time last year, the death toll was 50.
Twenty-two people died in the week ending Feb. 9; in the first week of January, the number was 68.