U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on federal health officials to dispatch a flu surveillance team to New York as the number of cases increases.
The Democrat announced his request to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.
He says a surveillance team could help local health care workers and state health officials by studying the spread of the illness, identifying the particular strains involved, and assessing the impact on the state's overall population.
Schumer says a CDC team could help the state "break its fever" by assisting the public health efforts already underway in the state.
According to the senator's office more than 5,200 New Yorkers have been hospitalized with the flu this season and the number of new cases went up by 54 percent last week.
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