Data from the CDC and anecdotal reports form hospital officials suggest respiratory syncytial virus infections have peaked in the U.S., allaying concerns that the nation could see simultaneous surges of COVID-19, flu and RSV.
"We think we're near the peak of RSV season or will be in the next week or so," CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, told NBC News in a Dec. 1 report.
National data aligns with that forecast. Weekly emergency department visits for RSV had been on the rise since September. Now, they may be coming down again, CDC data indicates. There were 22,321 ED visits for RSV for the week ending Dec. 2, the latest for which data are available. That's down from 23,500 in the previous week. PCR test positivity rates also fell slightly to 11.7 from 12.7 in the previous week.
Officials at Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health, told CBS affiliate WNCT that local hospitals have been seeing a rise in the number of RSV cases and hospitalizations since late October, though they believe trends are now turning a corner.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 and flu levels are accelerating quickly across the U.S., with health officials anticipating further increases as the holiday season kicks off.