Eight U. S. states The U. S. Department of Agriculture and Human Services (CDC) tracked the number of respiratory illness-related activities in the week leading up to New Year’s Eve, according to maps from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U. S.
Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Tennessee—as well as New York City on its own—were deemed to be areas with the highest levels of infection in the week ending December 30, compared to periods when circulation of diseases such as COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza are low.
Many states in the U. S. The U. S. had high or very high rates of respiratory illness, and the Midwest, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Delaware, and Vermont had low to moderate infection rates.
The CDC said its assessment was based on the percentage of visits to physical care providers in which a cough or sore throat, as well as fever, was reported.
Emergency branch visits due to COVID and influenza were higher across all age groups in school-aged children. Viruses accounted for 3 percent and 5. 2 percent of all visits, respectively.
The rise in infections is something fitness officials expected in the winter months. Colder weather tends to lead to greater spread of viruses and other infections because immunity is lower.
However, emerging respiratory infections, such as COVID and the flu, have led to some hospitals in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, D. C. to impose new mask mandates.
Weekly tracking of the three respiratory viruses nationally shows that flu infections have spiked since early December, from 8. 2 percent of tests in the week ending Dec. 9 to 17. 5 percent in the week ending Dec. 30.
COVID infections have continued to creep up over the winter, with a test positivity rate of 12.4 percent in the latest recorded week.
RSV infections climbed through October before appearing to peak at the end of November, and dropped off in the latter half of December. They most recently had a test positivity rate of 10.2 percent.
The levels of positive tests offer another picture of how other people are battling winter respiratory ailments compared to the model of the number of prescriptions filled for their medications.
Prescriptions for Tamiflu, administered to fight the flu, peaked at 0. 55% of prescriptions filled in the penultimate week of 2023, before falling to 0. 39% in the first week of January despite the occurrence of infections skyrocketing, according to a study by GoodRx. , a physical care transparency organization. attire.
“We’ve noticed a decrease in Tamiflu doses, but the trend is unlikely to persist,” Tori Marsh, director of studies at GoodRx, told Newsweek. “We expect fillings to continue to increase through the last few years. “
Prescriptions for the antiviral drugs Paxlovid and Lagevrio also peaked in the last week of December, at 0. 18% of all prescriptions, before falling to 0. 13% in early January. Marsh said this was “in line with last year,” when COVID prescriptions peaked in late 2022 before gradually tapering off for the rest of the winter months.
Although there are two approved medications for RSV, in some cases, patients inflamed by the virus are prescribed antibiotics to treat a secondary infection. Adherence to oral antibiotic prescriptions has risen in tandem with RSV infections, peaking at 1. 61% two weeks before the end of the year, before falling to around 1. 14% in January.
Marsh said RSV’s season “peaked beyond the norm at the end of December. Fortunately, fillings from those oral antibiotic solutions have decreased and are [now] more in line with past trends. “
Flu prescriptions appear to be following the end seen in the winter of 2014-2015, when prescriptions peaked in mid-December before falling back to a peak until late January. COVID-related prescriptions aren’t reaching the demand of 2022, when it was at its peak. accounted for 0. 35% of all prescriptions.
While demand for antibiotics tends to peak in late December and mid-February, based on trends from past winters, this year’s prescriptions “do not appear to be in line with those of past RSV seasons and have peaked in the past and above normal,” Marsh said.
However, she cautioned that “it’s hard to say what this will mean for the future, and doesn’t necessarily mean that fill trends will continue in line with previous trends.”
Aleks Phillips is an American journalist for Newsweek founded in London. It focuses on U. S. policy and the environment. U. S. He has extensively covered weather updates, as well as healthcare and crime. Aleks joined Newsweek in 2023 from the Daily Express and in the past worked for Chemist and Druggist and the Jewish Chronicle. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge. Languages: English.
You can reach Aleks by emailing aleks. phillips@newsweek. com.