Flu cases continue to increase across the U.S., and CDC officials said that more influenza cases could be coming.

"Hopefully we're in the peak currently, since the data is a week behind, or that it peaks soon," U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said. "Regardless, there is a lot of flu activity happening across the country and likely many more weeks to come."

Data collected Jan. 14-20 showed seven children died of the flu, increasing the season's total since October to 37. One of those deaths was reported last week in region four, which includes Tennessee along with most of the southeastern states.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, as of Friday, January 26, four children and one pregnant woman have died of flu related illness across the state so far in the 2017-2018 season, including two patients in East Tennessee.

Week 3 data shows that 2,188 cases of the flu were confirmed in region four. Nationwide, there were 11,965 laboratory-confirmed cases last week, bringing the season total to 86,527. Additionally, there were 41.9 hospitalizations for every 100,000 people.

The first week of January is the last week of mortality data the CDC had released as of Friday. In that week, 9.1 percent of deaths were due to flu or pneumonia. This is almost 2 percent higher than the epidemic threshold of 7.2 percent. Of the 716 total deaths in week one, 77 of them were in region four.

The CDC said the flu is still widespread in every state except Hawaii.

"It's still not too late to get vaccinated, as we're starting to see some increase in Influenza A H1N1 and Influenza B activity," Nordlund said, stressing the importance of seeking care early to anyone who has the flu or is at high risk for complications.