While the southern portion of the state had dodged the flu until now, the latest reports show it has caught up with the northern counties.
The seasonal flu is now rampant in New Jersey with all areas reporting high levels.
That's a change from last week's report, when only the northern part of the state had seen a big uptick in cases.
The latest reporting week covers the period when children returned to school, and shows that absentee rates are very high in Cumberland and Salem counties, with more than one in ten children out sick.
Those absentee rates are more than twice as high as seen in schools in other sections of the state.
For all ages, the flu hot spots so far are Bergen and Monmouth counties, with Bergen alone accounting for roughly a fifth of the positive flu samples discovered in tests.
Doctors say the predominant strain they're seeing is a variant of the 'A' strain, the H3N2 version.
While its symptoms are typical of the flu, they have been more severe than those experienced by patients in the 2009 "swine flu" epidemic.
That flu, the H1N1, is nearly non-existent in New Jersey this season.
This year's vaccine is thought to be a good match for the most commonly circulating viruses, as it contains the H3N2 strain.
However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention typically aren't able to determine each seasonal flu vaccine's efficacy until February.
While the flu shot is usually a good match, based on what strains predominated in the Southern Hemisphere during its flu season, occasionally that approach fails, as it did two years ago, when the shot people received didn't offer protection against some surprise strains.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.