Influenza Like Illnesses (ILIs) – COVID-19, Flu & RSV and other respiratory illnesses – are wrecking havoc across the country this winter
After couple years of reduced population mixing and public masking due to the pandemic, this winter we have once-in-a-decade levels of Flu & RSV prevalence in addition to COVID-19.
CDC even updated their ILI chart with a new purple color to highlight the top ILI activity level as seen in the latest chart above. 95% of the country is experiencing high levels of ILI activity contributing to 1 in 13 of all office visits.
Now is the time to follow key indicators and plan your day accordingly. Check your local risks at My Hubbub
Flu
The 2022-23 Influenza season started more than a month sooner than usual potentially leading to a longer season with lot more infections.
Besides starting early, lab tests for Influenza are showing a very high 25% positivity nationwide implying a very high prevalence in the population.
In fact, across much of the metro areas across the country, the FLU /area Index is in shades of orange to purple indicating > 5% of the population currently infected. FLU has a very high attack rate within households and school/work resulting in significant number of families
RSV
Respiratory Syncytial Virus is usually a concern among 0 - 4 and 65+ age groups. It is a minor cause of hospitalization in the susceptible population since most kids get exposed to RSV before they turn 2 and successfully fight the infection.
The high rates of RSV in circulation in the population and the suspected increased susceptibility to RSV due to widespread prior SARS-CoV-2 exposure is causing up to a quarter of all office visits among the 0-4 set.
In turn , we are set to see greater than 2x the typical rate of hospitalization, this year compared to the typical year.
The My Hubbub RSV charts show the risks in metro areas around the country except for pockets of exception such the South West. However, east of the Mississippi, RSV has peaked in November and is on the decline.
