Flu activity ticked down last week, but respiratory virus season is far from over in the US

The United States started the new year awash in respiratory illness, with high levels of flu, Covid-19 and RSV across most of the country. The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that some measures of flu activity dipped in early January, but the single week of decrease is not a trend – and experts warn that more increases are likely to come.

The United States started the new year awash in respiratory illness, with high levels of flu, Covid-19 and RSV across most of the country. The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that some measures of flu activity dipped in early January, but the single week of decrease is not a trend – and experts warn that more increases are likely to come. “It’s actually pretty common that we see a little bit of a dip around the holidays, but we typically see an increase after that – because people will delay seeking care, and lots of people get exposed to different things through holiday travel,” said Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “I think we should definitely expect a lot more respiratory virus activity.” Respiratory virus activity was high or very high in all but 15 states during the week ending January 6, according to the CDC. In the latest update this week, and consistently through the season, the agency’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics has suggested that this respiratory disease season will probably result in a similar number of hospitalizations as last season. And while current hospital capacity is considered stable overall, the CDC says that hospitals in some parts of the country have reported strains on their resources due, in part, to increases in respiratory illness. “There’s still a substantial amount of respiratory virus season to go. These viruses, to one degree or another, will be with us through the end of this month and well into February,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. Last month, flu surpassed Covid-19 to become the leading respiratory virus driving emergency room visits. The CDC estimates that flu has caused at least 14 million illnesses, 150,000 hospitalizations and 9,400 deaths this season.