Key indicators of seasonal flu exercise declined within the first week of the yr, signaling a attainable reprieve from the excessive ranges of respiratory virus transmission this season—however the dip could solely be short-term.
On Friday, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention launched its newest flu information for the week ending on January 6. Outpatient visits for influenza-like sicknesses (ILI) had been down that week, the primary decline after weeks of fast will increase. Flu take a look at positivity and hospitalizations had been additionally down barely.
However transmission continues to be elevated across the nation. Fourteen states have ILI exercise on the “very excessive” stage within the present information, down from 22 the week earlier than. And 23 states have “excessive” exercise stage, up from 19 the week earlier than. (You possibly can see the week-by-week development of this yr’s flu season within the US right here.)
The CDC says it’s monitoring for “a second interval of elevated influenza exercise that usually happens after the winter holidays.”
Flu is not the one virus that appears to be letting up slightly within the information, a minimum of for now. COVID-19 information additionally confirmed some dips, with the CDC reporting that “Regardless of take a look at positivity (proportion of assessments performed that had been constructive), emergency division visits, and hospitalizations remaining elevated nationally, the charges have stabilized, or in some cases decreased, after a number of weeks of continuous improve.”
The CDC speculates that a number of the declines in indicators might be resulting from folks not looking for medical care in the course of the holidays as they might in any other case. COVID-19 wastewater exercise ranges stay “very excessive,” with all areas exhibiting excessive or growing ranges. The South and Midwest have the very best ranges within the newest information, however there are some early indications that rises within the Midwest and Northeast could also be slowing down.
In the meantime, RSV exercise stays elevated, although some areas are beginning to see declines.
The CDC notes that it is not too late to get vaccinated towards COVID-19, flu, and (for these ages 60 and over) RSV. To this point, 21 % of adults have acquired the 2023–2024 COVID-19 vaccine, together with 41.5 % of individuals ages 65 and up. Round 363,000 folks have died from COVID-19 within the US since September.
For flu, about 47 % of adults have acquired their annual shot, together with 74 % of individuals ages 65 and up. On Thursday, researchers in Canada printed the primary estimates of flu vaccine effectiveness this season, discovering the present annual pictures are 61 % efficient towards the most typical pressure of flu circulating within the US (influenza A(H1N1)pdm09) and 49 % efficient towards the much less frequent influenza A(H3N2) and 75 % efficient towards influenza B.
The CDC estimates that there have been a minimum of 14 million flu circumstances, 150,000 hospitalizations, and 9,400 deaths from flu thus far this season thus far, the company reported. Within the first week of this yr, 13 youngsters died of flu, bringing this season’s complete to 40.
