CLOSE The CDC reported dozens of children have died this flu season, the worst in a decade. Buzz60 
 
 Getting a flu shot in Atlanta. (Photo: David Goldman, AP) 
 
 The worst flu season in a decade continues to take a grim toll, with 22 more child deaths reported Friday, bringing the total to 84. 
 
 The latest update by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also shows that the flu remained widespread in 48 states. 
 
 The newly listed child deaths are the most reported in any week this harsh flu season, but they occurred over several weeks, the report said. The overall count of 84 child deaths nearly matches the 86 reported by this time in 2015, during a severe season that ended up killing 148 children, CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said. 
 
 An estimated 56,000 people, mostly older adults, died that year. The CDC does not keep exact counts of adult flu deaths, but said that nearly 10% of all newly reported deaths in the country were due to influenza and pneumonia. Flu hospitalization rates among adults over age 50 also remained high. 
 
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 Friday's report showed one inkling of hope: The rate at which people visited doctors for flu-like illness stopped rising, after reaching peaks not seen since the swine flu pandemic of 2009. Such visits made up 7.5% of trips to doctors, down slightly from 7.7% the week before. 
 
 "It would be too early to say that we’ve peaked," Nordlund said. "We need to see more data, but that is something we are definitely hopeful for." 
 
 In a press conference Thursday about flu vaccines, acting CDC director Anne Schuchat said this flu season is far from over, even after 12 weeks of unusually persistent coast-to-coast misery. 
 
 “This flu season continues to be extremely challenging and intense, with very high levels of office visits for flu and hospitalization rates, all indications that flu activity is high and likely to continue for several more weeks,” she said. 
 
 This year's flu vaccines are preventing about 36% of flu cases in vaccinated people but are working better, at a rate of about 59%, in young children, the CDC reported Thursday. The vaccines are less effective, about 25%, at preventing illnesses caused by the dominant virus behind this year's epidemic, the report said. 
 
 But most of the children who have died this year have not been vaccinated, the report said. That also has been true for children who died in previous years, according to a study published this week. 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2o9xOwM ||||| Story highlights 3 out of 4 children who died from the flu had not gotten a flu vaccine 
 
 Widespread activity continues through 48 states 
 
 (CNN) The deaths of 22 more children from flu-related causes were reported Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its weekly surveillance report. 
 
 Those deaths bring the total number of children reported to have died to 84 since October, when the current flu season began. Three out of four children who died from the flu had not gotten a flu vaccine, the acting director of the CDC said in a Thursday news conference. 
 
 "We continue to recommend parents get their children vaccinated even though it's late in the season," Dr. Anne Schuchat said. The season may continue for several more weeks, she added. 
 
 Caused by viruses, flu is a contagious respiratory illness with mild to severe symptoms that can sometimes lead to death. 
 
 The vaccine's performance in children was "better than we expected," Schuchat said after the release of the CDC's midseason report of estimated vaccine effectiveness rates. 
 
 Read More ||||| FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 file photo, lab technologist Sharda Modi tests a patient's swab for a flu infection at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Ga. On Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, a report... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 file photo, lab technologist Sharda Modi tests a patient's swab for a flu infection at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Ga. On Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the flu season may finally be... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 file photo, lab technologist Sharda Modi tests a patient's swab for a flu infection at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Ga. On Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the flu season may finally be... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 file photo, lab technologist Sharda Modi tests a patient's swab for a flu infection at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Ga. On Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, a report... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — This nasty flu season, which has been worsening for months, may finally be leveling off. 
 
 Health officials on Friday said about 1 of every 13 visits to the doctor last week was for fever, cough and other symptoms of the flu. That's no reason for health officials to celebrate yet: That level is among the highest in a decade. But it's no worse than last week, and flu activity had been increasing each week since November. 
 
 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of states reporting heavy flu patient traffic also held steady at 43. 
 
 "I thought I was going to die, I really did," said Ben Bland, a 39-year-old event planner in Kansas City, Missouri, who was hospitalized this week with pneumonia on top of flu. "My lungs felt like they were going to blow out of my esophagus every time I coughed. My body ached head to toe." 
 
 This season started early and has been driven by a formidable type of flu that tends to put more people in the hospital and cause more deaths. Making a bad year worse, this year's flu vaccine is estimated to be only 25 percent effective against that type. 
 
 Preliminary data released last week indicated patient traffic in doctor's offices and emergency rooms this flu season was as bad as the height of the swine flu pandemic in 2009. However, the CDC readjusted its numbers down slightly in Friday's report, meaning this season did not quite match the intensity of flu activity seen in October 2009. 
 
 Still, it counts as one of the most intense flu seasons in more than a decade. Whether it's peaking or not, flu season is still expected to last several more weeks. 
 
 Flu remained widespread in every state except Oregon and Hawaii, the same as the week before. 
 
 The new report shows that for the week ending Jan. 27, just under 10 percent of U.S. death certificates listed flu or pneumonia. That's down slightly from the week before, but indicates that flu remains at epidemic levels. There are as many as 56,000 deaths connected to the flu during a bad year. 
 
 Eighty-four children have died so far. Childhood deaths have reached about 170 in a season. 
 
 Figures released Thursday suggest this year's flu vaccine has worked fairly well in children younger than 9. That was no comfort to parents with sick children. 
 
 "It's horrible to see your child with a breathing mask on her face," said Stephanie Calvin, 35, of Mandeville, Louisiana, whose 4-year-old daughter has been sick with flu for four weeks. 
 
 Calvin has taken four days of unpaid time off work to care for her daughter, alternating with her husband. "I'm a mom before I'm an employee. It was a no-brainer to stay home with her." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Johnson reported from Seattle.
– Another 22 children have been reported killed by the flu, and experts say that, despite signs of slowing, this flu season—the worst in a decade—is still far from over, USA Today reports. According to CNN, 84 children have died from the flu since October. That's two fewer than at this point in the 2015 flu season, which ended up killing 148 children. While the CDC reported Thursday that this year's flu vaccine was only 36% effective overall, it was more effective—59%—in children, which CDC acting director Dr. Anne Schuchat says is "better than we expected." So far, three out of four children killed this flu season hadn't received a flu vaccination. Schuchat says parents should still get their children vaccinated even though we're months into the flu season. While the flu is still widespread in 48 states— Hawaii and Oregon are the exceptions—it's possible this flu season has peaked. The rate of people seeing a doctor for flu-like symptoms decreased from 7.7% to 7.5% from the previous week. It's the first week since November that flu activity has decreased, the AP reports. "It would be too early to say that we’ve peaked," CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund says. "We need to see more data, but that is something we are definitely hopeful for." Nearly 10% of all deaths in the US in mid-February were related to the flu and pneumonia. A 39-year-old man hospitalized with both this week in Missouri says he thought he was going to die: "My lungs felt like they were going to blow out of my esophagus." (Inside the six-day decline of a teacher diagnosed with the flu.)