Flu reports continue to rise throughout Pa.

Another week, another round of flu activity of epidemic proportions.

The week ending Feb. 23 added more than 8,000 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases to the books and 10 more adult deaths, according to the Pennsylvania Health Department’s weekly flu update.

As it has since the beginning of the year, the state is once again labeling the week’s activity as widespread and higher than epidemic thresholds, with reports coming from every county — most concentrated in the northwest and southeast parts of the state.

Though these words evoke doom and gloom, the thresholds are not as catastrophic. “Widespread” means at least half the state’s region reported increases in flu cases. “Epidemic” is a broad term referring to an increase in the number of cases of a disease above the baseline occurrence, or what is normally expected in a particular region.

Past data show that around this time of year, Pennsylvania starts to head toward a slowdown in flu activity. The one outlier in the last 9 years is the winter of 2015-16, when the peak didn’t come until the 10th week of the year.

Indeed, the past 36 years of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show February has most often been the peak month of activity.

How is your county doing? Here’s how many more cases they’ve added in the last week:

14 percent increase, to 2,156 total cases

23 percent increase, to 1,615 total cases

7.5 percent increase, to 1,031 total cases

17 percent increase, to 2,208 total cases

4.5 percent increase, to 1,780 total cases

7 percent increase, to 678 total cases

Berks: Bucks: Lackawanna: Lehigh: Luzerne: Monroe: Montgomery:

22 percent increase, to 3,627 total cases

12.5 percent increase, to 2,106 total cases 12.5 percent increase, to 502 total cases

Northampton: Schuylkill: kdwyer@mcall.com Twitter @kayla_dwyer17 610-820-6554