Even as omicron is surging, the seasonal flu is back: More than 2,500 Americans were admitted to the hospital with influenza in the last week of December. The flu hospitalization rate is still about half of the pre-Covid normal, but it is eight times higher than it was last year when one side effect of pandemic restrictions was that flu cases fell off dramatically.
This is the first glimpse of a harsh new reality that will outlast this wave of the pandemic: Flu season has transformed into Covid-and-flu season — a “flu-rona” wave every winter.
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