An early flu season hits hospitals, pediatricians and schools across Mass.

The flu hits Massachusetts early and hard. According new data from the state’s public health department, the severity of the flu is rated “very high.”

A total of 5,462 new flu cases were recorded last week, nearly double the number from the previous week and far more than at this time in the past three years.

Influenza hospitalization rates have also risen sharply. The highest rates are for adults over 65. But children have also been hard hit. The second highest rate of flu hospitalizations was among children up to age 4, according to the report.

Pediatricians are reporting an increase in the number of patients visiting their offices with flu-like symptoms.

“It’s been about 10 years since a really, really, really bad flu epidemic, and here we are again,” said Mary Beth Miotto, president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians.

On Thursday, the Boston Public Health Commission warned residents of a rapid and “worrying” increase in flu cases in the city. In the past week alone, according to the agency, more than 700 cases of the flu have been reported. The number was nearly three times higher than the worst week of the previous flu season.

Flu infection rates have been reduced over the past two years, experts said, as many people continued to wear masks and take other precautions to slow the spread of COVID. Now that fewer people are taking these steps to avoid infection, respiratory viruses – including influenza and RSV – increased.

Since the start of the current flu season in October, more than 1,700 cases of influenza have been reported in Boston. Black and Latino residents have been disproportionately affected, the data shows. City health officials also noted a rapid increase in flu-related pediatric hospitalizations in the past week. Nearly 60% of all identified flu cases in Boston are in children and teens.

The figures do not surprise Miotto. They mirror what she has seen among her patients at the Mattapan Community Health Center, where she is a pediatrician.

Last week “it was flu, flu, flu, COVID and flu, flu, flu, flu,” she said. “I think I had one [patient] who did not have the flu.

While Miotto said pediatricians are managing the influx of respiratory viruses, their offices are busy. Miotto said families may have to be patient with hardworking staff and pharmacists.

Cathryn Hampson, president of the Massachusetts School Nurse Organization, said respiratory viruses are “running rampant” in schools and also keeping school nurses busy. Many staff and students are sick, she noted.

“If we had seen this before COVID, school nurses might have been overwhelmed,” Hampson said. But, after the stress of the pandemic and the demands of daily coronavirus testing, “the bar for being overwhelmed has kind of risen,” she said.

On Monday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said flu-related hospitalizations this time of year are higher than the country has seen in a decade. Health experts compared this year’s numbers to 2009-2010, when H1N1, or swine flu, swept the country.

Unfortunately, Walensky said“We are seeing a decline in the rates of [flu] vaccination compared to the same time last year.

Although most people recover from the flu without going to hospital, the illness can be dangerous. So far, 21 children have died during the current flu season, according to the CDC.

Miotto urged everyone to return to the strategies learned during the pandemic to slow the spread of infectious diseases: get a flu shot, wash your hands often, wear a mask in crowded public places and stay home case of illness.

“We forgot that we have tools,” Miotto said. “I’ve been so impressed with the audience in this first year of COVID, we’ve all grown really close, and I think maybe [people are] tiredness.”