Outpatient visits for respiratory illnesses have risen for the seventh week in a row, according to the CDC. COVID-19, flu and RSV hospitalizations are also up across the country.
To track overall respiratory virus activity levels, the CDC examines the percentage of visits to enrolled outpatient healthcare providers or emergency departments for fever and cough or sore throat by patients on a weekly basis.
Two states with the highest levels of respiratory virus activity at this time are South Carolina and Louisiana. Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina and Tennessee are also seeing "very high" activity levels.
States reporting high, but not quite crossing the threshold to "very high" levels of respiratory virus activity are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.
Just nine days ago, only 17 states were experiencing high respiratory virus activity.
Minnesota is faring the best across the country compared to the other 49 states, with the lowest reported level of respiratory cases in the nation.