January 30, 2023 – The variety of respiratory illnesses within the United States has declined so sharply in recent weeks that it’s approaching the numbers normally seen outside of flu season.
Only 3% of flu tests are positive, in line with the weekly Fluview Report. Emergency department visit rates as a result of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are actually below summer levels LevelsBoth diseases were spreading at record speeds just just a few months ago.
“This flu season started very early because there were so many children who had no experience at all with flu, colds and RSV,” said David Celentano, ScD, chief of the Division of Epidemiology on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Vox.
Data now suggests that flu and RSV could be an early peak. In the United States, about 25 million people got the flu this 12 months and 17,000 people died.
The once-record variety of hospitalizations for the flu has dropped a lot that this season could have below-average hospitalizations, the CDC predicted. The agency said this 12 months's flu vaccine was very effective against circulating strains.
COVID-19 metrics are also trending sharply downward, with some western parts of the U.S. reporting “some of the lowest case and hospitalization rates ever.” The New York Times reported.
Although COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are declining across the country, the virus stays deadly, with greater than 500 deaths on most days in January.
The weekly COVID-19 report predicted that the XBB.1.5 variant would flow into at over 50% nationwide for the primary time this week. The report's authors also said the country is now officially monitoring a latest, more internationally widespread variant called CH.1.1, which accounted for 1.5% of recent infections within the U.S. last week and was the fifth most typical variant within the country.