MILWAUKEE (AP) _ The flu season is nearing its peak in Wisconsin.
The federal government on Friday added Wisconsin to the map of states with severe, widespread outbreaks of influenza.
State epidemiologist Tom Haupt tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this is ``a severe year'' for the flu, but the peak is getting near. However, Haupt says the flu outbreak will stay high at least three to four weeks after the peak.
This season's predominant strain, A(H3N2), typically hits the elderly hardest. Haupt says about 70 percent of the 2,500 flu-related hospitalizations in Wisconsin since Sept. 1 have been those 65 and older.
Haupt says some hospitals have had to temporarily divert patients from emergency departments because they ran out of hospital beds.
Haupt says it's not too late to get a flu shot.