Colorado ranks among the highest states in the country for flu – an emergency room physician describes why the 2025-26 flu season is hitting hard |
Colorado is in the midst of a record-breaking flu season. In the week ending Dec. 27, 2025, 831 people were hospitalized with influenza – the most since the state started tracking flu cases two decades ago. Hospitalizations eased the following week to 737 but still remain higher than prior years.
Colorado is among the top five states with the most flu activity in the country, with doctor’s visits for flu-like illness at a 30-year record high, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly influenza surveillance report.
I’m an emergency medicine and critical care physician at the University of Colorado. In my 18 years of practicing clinical medicine, this year is one of the worst I have seen. Our emergency department hit a record number of single-day total visits over the holidays, and visit volumes have stayed high. Flu is likely contributing to this trend.
While there is always a season where respiratory viruses hit hard, this year influenza is making patients miserable and wreaking havoc on both the state and national health care system.
This season is especially rough because of the volume of people seeking emergency care. This flu came on fast and seems to be very contagious, and its symptoms are more severe than other recent years’ flu strains.
Flu tends to cause fever, body aches and maybe a cough. But this so-called super flu has also caused vomiting........