Flu activity in Louisiana continues to lead the nation

Louisiana has the highest level of influenza activity in the country for a fourth straight week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State health officials have recorded six deaths and 208 hospitalizations associated with flu so far this season.

The Centers for Disease Control currently lists Louisiana as one of two states with a “high” level of flu virus circulation, ahead of South Carolina based on the latest available data as of Oct. 31. Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi reported minimal to moderate rates of flu inflections, making Louisiana a stark outlier for the region.

Louisiana began the flu season this fall with a moderate level of circulation that quickly rose. Its flu positivity rate was 14% as of Oct. 31, representing the percent of flu tests that came back positive for the virus. Louisiana’s rate is a full five percentage points higher than the national rate.

Emergency room visits for the flu or flu-like illnesses are also more frequent in Louisiana, accounting for 5.5% of all patients. The rate is above the 2.8% national average and 3.8% regional baseline.

Crystal Rommen, co-director of the advocacy group Louisiana Families for Vaccines, said high rates of illness affect entire communities beyond just the numbers. 

“It’s not just death that is a concern, but missing school, missing work, missing activities in the community,” Rommen said. “It’s a serious thing.”

The surge in flu illnesses comes a year and a half after top Louisiana health officials ended state support for mass vaccination events and directed staff to stop taking part in community health fairs and media campaigns that encourage the public to get vaccinated against illnesses like the flu.   

The February 2025 directive came from former Louisiana Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham, who said previous state-sponsored efforts to promote vaccination were “missteps,” and that individuals should “make their own health decisions” about whether to get vaccinated. 

The Louisiana Department of Health website still says that flu vaccines reduce the number of complications and hospitalizations attributed to the virus.

Abraham left the state surgeon general’s post in December to take a leadership post with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

His replacement, Dr. Evelyn Griffin, a Baton Rouge obstetrician and gynecologist, was one of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointees to the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. She voted to recommend ending requirements for newborns to be immunized for hepatitis B and limit access to COVID vaccines in her time on the advisory panel. 

Rommen said these vaccine policy changes have impacted efforts to promote vaccines and their connection to public health. 

“Right now, it’s hard for people to know where to go for accurate and updated information,” she said. “We did feel like the onus for vaccine education fell onto nonprofit organizations, the individual physicians and providers, organizations that usually trust the state-level leadership to provide robust guidance.”

“When it’s not a very strong recommendation to be up to date on your vaccines, then people don’t necessarily feel the urgency to take time out of their bust day to check their vaccination records and stay up to date,” she added. 

Louisiana also recorded one of the nation’s highest rates of flu activity in 2025, according to the CDC. Over 8,100 people were hospitalized with flu-like illness in Louisiana, behind only Colorado and New York for cases that required a hospital stay.