Colorado, Louisiana and New York — particularly New York City — reported high levels of flu-like illness during the week ending Nov. 29, according to the latest CDC data on respiratory virus trends.
The CDC’s respiratory illness activity map reflects outpatient visits among patients who present with a fever plus a cough or sore throat, meaning it captures visits for flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus. Overall, about 2.9% of outpatient visits were due to respiratory illness for the week ending Nov. 29, up from 2.2% a week prior, though still below the national baseline of 3.1%.
Two more respiratory virus updates:
1. Flu hospitalizations jumped nearly 52% for the week ending Nov. 29 compared to the previous week, according to the CDC’s FluView report. About 4,960 patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza were admitted to a hospital for the week ending Nov. 29, up from 3,264 a week prior. Overall, the CDC estimates at least 1.9 million flu cases, 19,000 hospitalizations and 730 deaths so far this season.
2. Flu-related emergency department visits have also been steadily rising in recent weeks. Flu accounted for about 1.4% of ED visits for the week ending Nov. 29, up from 0.6% two weeks earlier. ED visits for flu are highest among children, according to the data.
3. This year’s virus season is shaping up to be unusually complex, unfolding alongside ongoing measles outbreaks and a second consecutive year of elevated whooping cough cases. Public health officials have attributed the rise in pertussis and measles to declining childhood vaccination rates, with most measles cases this year involving individuals who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.
At the same time, federal officials are reviewing potential changes to the childhood immunization schedule. The FDA is also weighing sweeping changes to its vaccine approval process — including requiring larger, longer clinical trials — according to a recent internal memo obtained by The New York Times. The memo, authored by the FDA’s vaccine division head Vinay Prasad, MD, also called for revising the agency’s annual flu vaccine framework and included controversial claims about pediatric COVID-19 vaccine safety, prompting sharp pushback from public health experts.
