The flu is walloping every corner of Massachusetts in an unusual second surge of the season, with people reporting flu-like symptoms at rates higher than any other winter peak since before COVID struck five years ago, according to state data.

A surge in flu cases has doctors’ offices and hospitals packed across the state. Physicians say are seeing a jump in coughing, sneezing, and other flu symptoms for the second time this season. Health officials are saying we are on track to seeing one of the worst flu seasons in 15 years.

Cases of influenza have increased across the Bay State since late December 2024, with a second surge detected in late January going into Feb. 1, according to DPH officials.

COVID-19, according to CDC data. Rates of influenza hospitalizations are more than three times higher than COVID-19 hospitalizations amid this season's record wave of flu infections. Partial CDC data suggest that influenza deaths may have already reached as high as 2% of deaths for the week ending on Feb.

During the first years of the COVID pandemic, elevated precautions mostly suppressed the perennial flu outbreaks that typically kill between 10,000 and 50,000 people annually in the United States.