Healthcare leaders are closely watching respiratory virus trends heading into fall. Overall, there is a healthy dose of optimism that the U.S. won't see the same levels of severe disease that strained hospitals nationwide last year, though it's still too early to determine whether a "tripledemic" of COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus will play out in some capacity. 

Meta's new social media platform Threads is blocking searches related to COVID-19, a move that has been met with scrutiny from public health officials, The Washington Post reported Sept. 11.

Members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will vote Sept. 12 on for whom the new COVID-19 vaccination will be recommended, but some critics say it should be only for older and immunocompromised populations, KFF Health News reported Sept. 11.

The Biden administration has halted a $125 million research program that aimed to collect and isolate thousands of exotic pathogens amid concerns from lawmakers and scientists that the research could trigger an accidental outbreak, The Washington Post reported Sept. 7. 

The CDC has started publishing weekly updates on respiratory viruses, with the latest focused on flu shot efficacy and the BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant. 

Flu season in the Southern Hemisphere is winding down and health officials in the Northern Hemisphere are reviewing data on the flu vaccine's effectiveness in anticipation of the fall. According to a CDC report released Sept. 8, the flu vaccine helped reduce influenza-associated hospitalizations by 52 percent in the Southern Hemisphere.

COVID-19 hospital admissions are up almost 16 percent from the week prior, according to the CDC's most recent data. Deaths due to the virus have also risen nearly 11 percent in the same time. 

Patients with autoimmune rheumatoid disease who have more antibodies specific to the common cold may be more likely to develop long COVID-19, according to new research published Sept. 6 in Science Translational Medicine.

A nationwide poll of Generation Z Americans conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for Health Justice found that the majority of people, despite political affiliation, agree that healthcare is a basic human right.

New forecasting from life science analytics company Airfinity suggests U.S. hospitalizations from COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus will peak at the end of January. 

More than 80 percent of men in the U.S. believe they live a healthy lifestyle, though this may be an inaccurate perception, given many respondents indicated they have unhealthy habits and lifestyles, according to new survey findings from Cleveland Clinic. 

The FDA has extended expiration dates for many rapid at-home COVID-19 tests, meaning some test kits that have been stored away from earlier in the pandemic may still provide accurate results. 

Respiratory syncytial virus activity has increased across the Southeast in recent weeks, suggesting the U.S. will see a national uptick within several months, according to a Sept. 5 CDC health alert.

New lab data suggests COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 — a distant omicron relative that has been making headlines over the past few weeks because of its large number of mutations — may not be as transmissible or immune-evasive as experts initially believed, CNN reported Sept. 4.

Health officials at the CDC have issued a health advisory warning clinicians to look out for cases of Vibrio vulnificus, a sometimes deadly flesh-eating bacteria. 

The CDC updated its risk assessment on distant omicron relative BA.2.86 on Aug. 30, saying the strain — which has concerned experts over the large number of mutations it carries — has been detected in at least four states. 

Patients have been canceling appointments at Chillicothe, Ohio-based Adena Regional Medical Center over rumors and concerns about a Legionnaires' disease outbreak, which the health system has since described as "misinformation." 

Health officials in Virginia are warning clinicians about an outbreak of meningococcal disease, according to an Aug. 30 news release from the state's department of health.

A Texas resident died after being exposed to Naegleria fowleri — the bacteria that causes a brain-eating amoeba infection — from swimming in a lake in Travis County near Austin, Texas, according to an Aug. 30 news release.

While the COVID-19 variant EG.5 accounts for more than 20 percent of cases across the U.S., according to CDC data, the emergence of a new subvariant, BA.2.86 is drawing close attention from health experts.