In a devastating turn of events, more than a dozen children have succumbed to a severe strain of influenza this week, as this year’s harsh flu season begins to wane.

Virginia health authorities reported their first pediatric flu-related death of the season, involving a child under the age of four. This age group is particularly susceptible to severe flu complications due to their still-developing immune systems.

Ohio has also been hit hard, with the deaths of a six-year-old and a teenager, raising the state’s pediatric flu death toll to three in less than a month.

South Carolina’s flu fatality figures are alarming, with the death toll tripling compared to last year. The state has recorded 19 flu-related deaths in the 2025-2026 season.

Tragedy struck in Utah as well, where four-year-old Elora ‘Ellie’ Ann Rudd passed away after complications from the flu led to a stroke.

According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15 pediatric flu-related deaths have been reported this week, bringing the total for the season to 32. This marks an increase from the 27 deaths reported at this time last year.

Amid the deaths, cases of the flu, largely driven by new variant H3N2 subclade K, nicknamed ‘super flu,’ have begun to slow. About 19 percent of influenza tests came back positive during the week of January 10, down from 25 percent the week before. 

Hospitalizations are also down from 39,945 to 27,428 in the past week, a 31 percent decrease. 

Ellie Ann Rudd, 4, of Utah died after she battled a case of the flu so severe that it caused her to have a stroke. She is pictured above 

The flu can best be prevented with an annual vaccine, which is between 30 and 75 percent effective, but the latest figures show less than half of Americans have gotten their shot.

As she mourns the loss of her daughter, Ellie Rudd’s mother, Sarah, has encouraged more adults to get the vaccine.

‘Honestly, just get your shots,’ she told CNN. ‘Even if it doesn’t work this year, maybe it could have helped her a little bit. We don’t really know.

‘Probably next season, we’ll look into getting the flu shot for our kids and us, so just extra peace of mind.’

The CDC reported that nine in 10 children who have died of the flu this season were not fully vaccinated against the disease. 

Ellie also had not received her flu shot this season, Rudd said. 

The preschooler, the middle second of four children, spiked a fever and developed a barking cough in early January after the rest of her family became ill with the flu. 

At the hospital, she tested positive for the flu and adenovirus, which can cause flu-like symptoms. 

Ellie, pictured above, became ill over the holidays and was diagnosed with the flu and adenovirus, an illness that caused cold and flu-like symptoms

Ellie received supplemental oxygen and Tamiflu, but the next day, she complained of a pain in her lower abdomen and started coughing up blood. Overnight, she had developed pneumonia in one of her lungs and sepsis, the body’s overreaction to an infection that causes the immune system to attack healthy organs, her mother told CNN. 

Ellie later developed blood clots in her heart, followed by a massive stroke, which forced her family to remove her from life support. 

‘It hit her so fast and so hard,’ Rudd said.  

This year’s dominant flu strain is brand new to people’s immune systems, making them highly vulnerable and at an increased risk of severe, hospitalizing illness. 

While symptoms are the same as other flu strains, experts warn the ‘super flu’ variant is leading to more severe illness, especially in children, with signs including week-long fevers and a cough that leads to trouble breathing. 

Flu test positivity and hospitalizations, however, are showing signs of decreasing after holiday surges. 

Isaias Castillo IV, a two-year-old from New Jersey, died on January 6 from ‘complications from the flu,’ his family announced on Facebook and GoFundMe. He is pictured above

The number of positive tests compared to the week prior is down 29 percent, with outpatient respiratory illnesses declining from seven percent of doctor visits to five percent in the past week. 

The number of states reporting ‘very high’ virus activity has also nearly been cut in half, from 27 the week of January 3 to 14 the week of January 10, and twice as many states have reported moderate levels in the past week, going from eight to four. 

Additionally, eight states now have ‘low’ levels compared to three the week before, and the number of states with ‘minimal’ activity has increased from two to three.  

Massachusetts, Missouri, South Carolina, Louisiana and New Mexico all had the highest flu activity levels during the week of January 10. 

For the first time in several weeks, no states have reported the CDC’s highest level of flu activity, level 13.