Flu Emergency Room Trips Are 'Very High, CDC Says

The number of emergency room visits involving influenza in the US has crossed into the "very high" level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Western states are recording some of the largest increases, per CBS News. At the end of December, for instance, the data show 8.4% of emergency room visits in Oregon involved flu—more than three times last season's highest point. The Oregon Health & Science University Hospital said its system logged 1,101 cases of influenza treated in November and December, while it had 251 cases in the same months of 2023.

They started at a low level, but COVID-19 cases also are on the rise, the CDC's update says. Partly because a "new immune-escape variant" hasn't emerged, the agency doesn't expect a major COVID wave. Wastewater surveillance indicates that infections nationally just recently reached "high" levels. Rates are highest in the Midwest, with Indiana leading in emergency room trips, but still well below last winter's peaks. The CDC also is monitoring RSV levels.

The positivity rate for RSV is high in many areas, especially among young children, though it's also risen for older adults in places. Vaccination rates for all three illnesses are low nationally, per the Guardian. But the CDC doesn't expect combined hospitalizations caused by COVID, influenza, and RSV to be higher in number than last year's. (More influenza stories.)