How bad is it this winter, flu and RSV?
Covid degrees would have possibly reached a peak, but the flu is high; RSV is out
By Tanya Lewis edited by Dean Visser
Amanda Montañez; Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (data)
If it seems like almost everyone you know is getting sick with influenza or some other virus right now, it’s not your imagination. The Northern Hemisphere’s respiratory illness season, which typically runs from October to May, is in full swing. Flu hospitalizations appear to have declined from an initial peak in January, but they remain high, and cases may be rebounding. Levels of the virus that causes COVID detected in wastewater are also high but declining. And respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is still putting people in the hospital, albeit at lower levels than flu or COVID. Yet despite all the sniffles, it’s shaping up to be a fairly typical year for respiratory viruses.
Until now, this year’s flu season is very similar to that of recent years, with the exception of 2020-2021, when the flu has almost disappeared due to masking measures and social distancing connected to garbage, the rate This season’s weekly hospitalization has reached a peak around January 4, then it seemed to decrease, although the centers for disease control and prevention indicated that there may also be imaginable delays in the reports. The knowledge of the positive verification rate of the past (some of which have been published several days after the new presidential administration) show a slight rebound in infections, so we would not be possible outside the forest. There have been data that this year’s flu vaccine can also be less effective than in recent years, which can also explain the main grades of obvious disease that are lately. But this season does not seem to be more serious than the others.
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Amanda Montañez; Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Data)
This year’s flu season was a little late, says Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health. But we’re still being evaluated,” he says. I don’t know how it’s going to play,” Nuzzo added.
To save it seriously ill from flu, physical conditioning officials still have the flu vaccine if it has not yet done so, especially if you are 65 years old or more or have underlying physical condition conditions. Masking, avoiding crowds and being in well -ventilated spaces are useful to reduce the possibility of infected. And if it deserves to verify positive for flu, antiviral medications such as tamiflu must be had through prescription.
The fact that the season of this year began a little later that last year is a relief, says Nuzzo, in the gentle of the avian -valiant H5N1 epidemics in progress in the cows and the poultry that caused 67 human infections And a death in the United States, Nuzzo is worried about other folks who get inflamed with H5N1 and seasonal flu – a scenario that may just building up the threat of adaptation of bird flu to humans and a pandemic. “I am a little relieved because I was worried about the co-coccus festival of H5N1 and the seasonal flu,” she said. “I worry that humans are inflamed with the two viruses. “
There has been a much smaller spike in COVID hospitalizations this winter, compared with previous ones. That’s likely thanks to widespread immunity from vaccination or infection, or both. The U.S. also had a substantial late summer COVID spike in 2024, so some of the immunity from infections during that time may have prevented a large winter surge.
Amanda Montañez; Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Data)
The virus that causes COVID, SARS-CoV-2, hasn’t mutated much recently, says Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist who writes the popular newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist and consults for the CDC. In addition, more people older than age 65 were vaccinated this season than last season, she says. And wastewater levels of the virus appear to have peaked.
Covid was not really established in a seasonal scheme such as flu and RSV. It is reaching its maximum point at least twice a year, adding the summer, which suggests that the transmission can be conducted at least both through human habit and through the climate or other environmental factors. “A component is our habit. Some are just an opportunity, a little like Boggle, ”explains Nuzzo. “Every season, you shake the cubes” and see what is happening.
The Covid vaccine is the maximum productive form of protecting from serious diseases, and maximum bendences recommend that at least older adults and those who are immunocompromised remain updated. For those who are covidal and have a maximum threat of serious diseases, the mavens recommend the antiviral medication Paxlovid, as long as you can start taking it in the first five days after the end of the symptoms. Studies recommend that you provide less benefits to other people who are not in the maximum threat, and this can interact with many other existing medications, then consult a doctor if you are not sure.
Covid kills other people even more in each year than the flu, the flu hospitalizations this winter are twice that of Covid, which suggests that the flu has had a more concentrated winter peak. It is not transparent if the SARS-COV-2 will eventually evolve as less serious than the flu virus. “We definitely cannot say” no, “explains Nuzzo. ” In general, as a population, we are less delicate with Covid-19’s disease. But never say. I was humiliated through this virus several times. “
Like the flu, the RSV has a typical year. Hospitalizations seem to have reached a height logo for the season and are going down. “This year is not so bad. Many other people think that we are more sensible to RSV infections, explains Peter Chin-Hong, associated professor and dean for regional campuses at the University of California in San Francisco, Faculty of Medicine.
Amanda Montañez; Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Data)
During the COVID pandemic, RSV showed a slightly odd pattern: like flu, it basically disappeared in the 2020–2021 season, likely because of masking and social distancing. But in 2022–2023 it came roaring back and had a large, early peak during the fall. Last year saw a significant surge as well, but it was closer to the timing of a typical season.
Chin-Hong believes this year’s somewhat milder RSV season may also be the result of a shift to the general virus. In 2023, RSV vaccines for the elderly and other pregnant people were finally approved, possibly having more other people. “There’s still a lot of room to [vaccinate] the elderly,” Chin-Hong says. What’s more, there’s now antibody-based prophylactic medicine to protect young people and newborns opposed to RSV, and its adoption was quite good, he adds.
The flu, Covid, and RSV aren’t the only unsightly insects circulating, of course. This season has seen one of the worst epidemics of norovirus, a gastrointestinal pathogen that reasons symptoms for food poisoning, in the decade beyond. Between August 1, 2024, and January 15, 2025, more than 1,000 norovirus epidemics were reported in the United States, however, last season, there were only 550 in the same period.
The likely reason for this surge is that the virus has mutated to a form that fewer people have immunity to. “Outbreaks usually happen when the virus has evolved and population immunity is low,” Jetelina says.This season nearly 70 percent of norovirus outbreaks have been caused by an atypical variant of norovirus, she says.
Then there’s human metapneumovirus (HMPV). In early January a flurry of news reports said HMPV cases were surging in some countries in Asia—but this isn’t a new virus, and experts say it doesn’t pose a major threat. Positive HMPV tests in the U.S. showed a slight uptick in January, but that appears to have subsided.
And, of course, at any time, there is a true stew of virus without blood. These come with rhinovirus, adenovirus and seasonal coronavirus. treated at home with hydration and rest.
As always, it’s a smart concept to stay in the house if you’re not feeling well (and you can). Limiting touch with others or wearing a mask can help restrict spread. And washing your hands with water and water is important, especially for norovirus, because hand sanitizer doesn’t kill the virus.
Tanya Lewis is a senior editor covering health and medicine at Scientific American. She writes and edits stories for the website and print magazine on topics ranging from COVID to organ transplants. She also appears on Scientific American’s podcast Science, Quickly and writes Scientific American’s weekly Health & Biology newsletter. She has held a number of positions over her eight years at Scientific American, including health editor, assistant news editor and associate editor at Scientific American Mind. Previously, she has written for outlets that include Insider, Wired, Science News, and others. She has a degree in biomedical engineering from Brown University and one in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Follow her on Bluesky @tanyalewis.bsky.social
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