Seven states and Washington, D.C., are seeing high levels of respiratory virus activity heading into Thanksgiving week, according to the latest CDC data.
Respiratory illness activity levels are a measure of the weekly percentage of visits to an outpatient healthcare provider or emergency department for fever and cough or sore throat. The latest update is based on data for the week ending Nov. 11. One state, Louisiana, reported "very high" respiratory virus activity levels. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina and the District of Columbia each reported high levels.
The weekly percentage of ED visits associated with flu and RSV have been on the rise over the past several weeks. Hospitalizations associated with the two infections are alsoticking up, particularly among children and older adults.
Meanwhile, new COVID-19 admissions have started to tick back up. There were 16,239 new admissions for the week ending Nov. 11, up 8.6% from the week prior. Before this week, hospitalizations had been mostly trending downward since early September. At this time last year, nearly 24,000 new COVID-19 hospitalisations were reported. Last winter's surge peaked in January, when new weekly admissions reached about 44,500.