MANKATO — After hospitalizing more Minnesotans than any season since at least 2011, data showed influenza infections are winding down in the state.
The Minnesota Department of Health’s latest weekly flu surveillance report had 47 known hospitalizations from the illness statewide, down from 72 in the prior week. At its peak early this year the state was seeing more than 800 weekly flu hospitalizations.
Minnesota’s 7,442 flu hospitalizations up to this point in the 2024-2025 season already made it more than two times more severe than most other seasons since 2011-2012, with about a month still left in the season. The next most severe season in that span was 6,288 hospitalizations in 2017-2018, and only three other seasons finished with more than 4,000.
South-central Minnesota has had a milder flu season than most other regions. Only southeast Minnesota has a lower rate.
Still, even a milder season relative to other regions gives south-central Minnesota its second most severe season since at least 2011. It has 333 flu hospitalization so far, compared to 381 in 2017-2018.
This flu season was the country’s first high severity season since 2017-2018, wrote Jim Wappes, editorial director at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, in an update Friday. Known as CIDRAP, the center is part of the University of Minnesota.
The update focused on flu steady, nationwide decline over the past week. No jurisdictions were reporting high flu activity over the past week.