COVID-19 and flu levels continue to increase but CDC director believes US has hit peak of RSV

New CDC data updated on Friday shows COVID and flu hospitalizations continue to increase across the U.S. as the CDC director says she believes we've hit the peak of RSV.

Seventeen states are seeing "high" or "very high" levels of respiratory illness activity as COVID-19 and flu hospitalizations increase across the U.S., new federal data shows.

Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations rose to 23,432 for the week ending Dec. 9, up from 22,730 the previous week, according to data updated Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This is the fifth consecutive week of increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations, reaching levels not seen since the end of February. However, they remain lower than rates seen at the same time last year.

COVID-19 hospitalization rates are still elevated for the oldest and youngest Americans. Those aged 65 and older have the highest weekly rate at 13.9 per 100,000 followed by those aged 50 to 64 at 3.1 per 100,000 and those aged 0 to 4 at 2.7 per 100,000.