now, this just in. nearly every state in the nation is now reporting widespread flu activity and the cdc warns that the virus will likely be around for several more weeks. 12,000 new cases confirmed just last week. already 37 kids have died. some hospitals in california are overwhelmed with flu cases, and an entire school district in florida is closed today because of a spike in the flu. i want to bring in cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. people are looking at this, sanjay, and they're wondering why is it so bad this year? >> expect it to go until at least the beginning of april. it really has to do with the type of flu strain. there is all these different types of flu that are out there. the one that's moving around a lot this year, as you pointed out most of the country, is h3n2. the last time that was