Viruses spiking in the United States as peak season arrives in winter
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Several viruses — seasonal respiratory flu, stomach flu, COVID-19 and RSV — are surging in the United States and are expected to spike during the winter months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Seasonal flu activity is elevated across the Untied States, including a rise in emergency visits, according to the CDC in its weekly update Friday.
The CDC said “the amount of acute respiratory illness causing people to seek healthcare is at a high level and continues to increase nationally.”
Seasonal influenza “activity continues to increase and is elevated across most of the country, the CDC said.
The CDC estimates that there have been at least 5.3 million illnesses, 63,000 hospitalizations, and 2,700 deaths from flu so far this season. Last year there were 470,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths last year from the flu.
During Week 52, of the 1,254 viruses reported by public health laboratories, 1,234 were influenza A and 20 were influenza B.
Nationally, influenza test positivity increased to 18.7%, according to the CDC.
On a five-point color level, the highest are in Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and New Hampshire. The lowest levels are in North Dakota, Vermont and Maine.
The CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine.
“It is clearly the season,” Dr. Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner, a medical epidemiologist in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Influenza Division, told USA TODAY.
This season’s wave of flu cases is arriving later than it has in the past two years, CBS News reported. After the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza during the colder months increased weeks earlier than they had during many pre-pandemic seasons.
Flu trends look to be closely in line with the 2019 to 2020 season, which also reached peak levels around the New Year.
“You can see that in Dec. 2022, we also had a very large spike in flu cases, but this year has been significantly higher than last year,” said Sara Hottman, a spokesperson for Oregon Health & Science University Hospital, in an email.
“In 2022, the combination of RSV, flu and COVID led to a public health emergency and crisis standards of care among hospitals in the region. We have not experienced that, and do not currently expect to, this year.”
That is known as a “tripledemic.”
According to the CDC, “COVID-19 activity is increasing in most areas of the country” and “RSV activity is very high in many areas of the country, particularly in young children.”
COVID-19 test positivity has increased to 7.1%. RSV test positivity rose to 12.8%.
COVID-19 is determined by wastewater levels and increasing emergency department visits and laboratory percent positivity.
The CDC no longer tracks total COIVD-19 cases though some state reports data. And states that collect data don’t include most at-home tests.
“Based on CDC modeled estimates of epidemic growth, we predict COVID-19 illness will continue to increase in the coming weeks as it usually does in the winter,” the CDC said.
The CDC said experts believe the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine will work well for currently circulating variants.
The CDC last estimated that most COVID infections are from the XEC variant, which officials have said is closely related to previous strains.
Nationally, wastewater viral activity levels for COVID-19, influenza A, and RSV are at moderate levels.
Also, the CDC is reporting a spike in norovirus, which is more commonly known as the stomach flu, and is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea from inflammation of the stomach and intestines, or gastroenteritis, according to the CDC.
The virus is also the No. 1 cause of foodborne illness in the U.S. and causes 58% of the illnesses acquired, according to the CDC.
Each year, about 2,500 reported norovirus outbreaks are reported in the United States, according to the CDC. Most norovirus outbreaks happen when infected people spread the virus to others through direct contact, including cruise ships.
And the CDC has been watching the Type A H5N1 version of bird flu. Sixty-six human U.S. cases, including 37 in California, were reported last year.