Closeup image of frustrated sick woman with red nose lying in bed in thick scarf holding tissue by her nose and touching her head

Flu season most often peaks in February, but the latest projections show there’s better odds that America’s 2019-2020 flu season high points in December than any other month.

There’s a 40 percent chance that flu activity peaks in the United States in December, compared to a 30 percent chance for January 2020 and 25 percent chance for February, according to the The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC).

The CDC came to these projections using FluSight, a tool it created in an effort to reduce the flu’s impact by forecasting how it might play out. Unlike FluSight, more traditional CDC surveillance systems track flu activity after it has occurred.

According to FluSight’s latest projections, which can be viewed on the CDC’s website, flu activity in the United States will continue to increase and stay above the baseline level over the next few weeks.

Though it doesn’t commonly occur this early, the thought of America’s flu season peaking in December this year isn’t shocking. That’s because the CDC released data last week stating that the flu season in the United States is off to its fastest in more than a decade. 

The flu’s early presence is being made very evident in healthcare facilities across the country, especially those that specialize in the treatment of children. Children's Hospital New Orleans, for example, has dealt with thousands more flu cases this year that it had at this point in 2018.