I keep hearing that the flu is bad this year in Massachusetts. Was it that the virus was presenting symptoms that were so awful, or were case numbers actually up from previous years?

This flu is outrageous. It is downright offensive. I’m 5 days in, and when the aches and shakes subsided on Wednesday, I thought I was turning a corner. But no, we’ve got ourselves a shapeshifter.

It’s now evolving into a really special upper respiratory situation, and the exhaustion is like nothing I’ve experienced (even in newborn days)! I’m telling you, this thing will take your sleep, soul and dignity. You’ve been warned. -Ashley P. on Facebook 1/17/25

Flu season in Massachusetts normally runs from Nov. 1 to Apr. 1. Some years cases peak early, some years it's a little later. This season, according to the influenza reporting website in MA, cases seemed to have peaked during the weak of 2/2/25 where about 12% of urgent care visits were flu-like related which is higher than the previous five years.

Here's How Many Mass. Residents Died From Flu This Season

If you remember during the first year of Covid, the flu was absent, gone, literally at minimal levels the entire year. I can only assume masking and distancing were to blame for the staggeringly low number of flu cases in Massachusetts.

251 people died from flu last season and so far this year, 242 people have succumbed to the seasonal virus. Seven of those deaths were children. Because we have some weeks ahead left of flu season and that the data hasn't caught up yet, I can only assume that this year's flu season will be the most deadly in Massachusetts in at least 5 years.