STAT News Subclade K is making its impact felt. Australia’s 2025 flu season lasted weeks longer than it normally does. Hong Kong’s hit so early that the rollout of seasonal flu shots hadn’t yet started. New York has reported record-breaking flu hospitalizations for the past two weeks.
Welcome to the winter of subclade K.
Even if you weren’t already aware of the name of this year’s flu variant, you may have spent the holidays trying to dodge sick relatives and friends. You’ve likely heard that emergency departments across the country are swamped with patients with flu-like illnesses.
You may have the impression that this is a particularly early or especially virulent flu season, or that something unusual is afoot. We’ve seen headlines referring to this wave of illness as a “super flu.” (Except maybe for pandemics — which this isn’t — that is not a thing.)