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Influenza continues to spread widely across the Northeast. However, there were region-wide decreases in trips to the doctor for influenza-like illness (ILI) and also trips to the emergency department (ED) for flu.
Northeast: ED visits for influenza (%)
% of emergency department visits that are for influenza
In Maine, activity is still high, but both outpatient ILI (3.5%) and ED visits (2.5%), dropped about a point this past week, which is encouraging. Similarly, in New Hampshire, outpatient ILI remains on the high side at 3.4%, but both ILI and ED visits (2.8%) are dropping.
In New Jersey, outpatient ILI is down to 4.8% (which is categorized as moderate for the state), and ED visits at 1.7%. In Massachusetts, outpatient ILI is down to 3.2%, and ED visits are down to 1.6%.
Northeast: Outpatient influenza like illness (%)
% of visits to the doctor that are for fever and cough or sore throat
The biggest states in the region (New York and Pennsylvania) are finally down to low levels of activity. In New York, outpatient ILI is down to 2.9%, and ED visits for flu are at just 0.8%. In New York City, flu continues to decrease, dropping to just 0.5% of ED visits and 0.4% of hospitalizations.
In Pennsylvania, outpatient ILI is 2.3%, the lowest in the region, and ED visits have decreased to 2.1%. In addition, ED visits in Vermont dropped from 5% down to 3% in the past week, and outpatient ILI declined to 2.4%. Rhode Island is also down to low levels, with outpatient ILI at 2.4% and ED visits at 1.2%.
Wastewater activity is moderate but bouncing around in the region. ED visits for Covid-19 are fairly low and improving, so on the whole I think the picture is quite good.
Maine is turning the corner. Wastewater activity is high, but dipped a bit, and ED visits dropped slightly to 1.1%.
In Massachusetts, wastewater activity is high and rising, but ED visits are at 0.8% and have been decreasing for the past few weeks. Similarly, in Connecticut, wastewater activity is also high and rising. However, ED visits held steady at 0.9% and hospitalizations decreased to a fairly low 2.1 hospitalizations per 100,000 people.
Northeast: ED visits for Covid-19 (%)
% of emergency department visits for Covid-19
In Pennsylvania, wastewater activity is moderate and rising, and ED visits remain a bit more elevated, despite improvements this past week (to 0.8%).
In Vermont, ED visits fell substantially this past week, from nearly 1.2 down to 0.7%. However, wastewater activity in the state is moderate and rising again.
New Hampshire has dropped from high down to moderate wastewater activity levels. ED visits remain a bit elevated at 1.0%, but are also moving in the right direction.
In New York, ED visits held steady at 0.4% and hospitalizations ticked up slightly to 2.8 per 100,000. Wastewater data jumped to high levels in the state, but data was incomplete this week, so I am not convinced this represents what is happening in the state as a whole. This seems particularly likely because ED visits in New York City held steady at a low 0.2%, as did hospitalizations at 0.2%, so I doubt the state is resurging.
Rhode Island is also in good shape. Wastewater activity is low, and ED visits decreased down to 0.5% this past week.
RSV is elevated, with about half the Northeast still seeing increases in ED visits and the other half declining. This pattern often marks peak season.
ED visits for RSV are elevated and increasing in New Hampshire (0.8%). The only other state to see a notable increase was Connecticut, where ED visits rose to 0.5% and hospitalizations increased to 3.0, which is higher than hospitalizations for flu or Covid-19.
Rates held roughly steady at moderate levels in Pennsylvania (0.5%) and New York (0.4%). Hospitalizations in New York remain moderately elevated as well, but decreased slightly, to 2.1. In New York City, ED visits for RSV remain flat at 0.4%, as do hospitalizations at 0.4%.
RSV remains elevated, but decreased this past week in Massachusetts (0.7%) and New Jersey (0.7%). Both Rhode Island and Vermont saw large declines in ED visits, dropping by more than half to ~0.3%. Trips to the ED are lowest in Maine, at just 0.2%.
Northeast: ED visits for RSV (%)
% of emergency department visits that are for RSV
Lots of respiratory bugs are circulating right now.
- Human coronaviruses are on a rapid ascent right now, and have nearly reached last season’s peak (which was in late February).
- Human metapneumovirus spread is climbing as well, and adenovirus remains elevated.
- Rhinoviruses/enteroviruses are low but have been slowly increasing for the past few weeks.
Norovirus loves February. Activity is high and climbing across the country. While rates are not stratospheric like last season, we are at typical (high) levels for this time of year. Test positivity was 13.5% this past week at the national level.
Rates have spiked in the Northeast, climbing to 15.8% test positivity this past week, up from 8.6% in mid-January. This is the highest rates have been so far this season.
The following foods are being recalled because they are contaminated. Please check your cupboards and throw out any of these items:
New:
Previously Reported:
- Gerber(R) Arrowroot biscuits (more info)
- IKM cookware products (primarily sold in California grocery stores) due to potential lead contamination (more info)
- Organic chia seeds sold by Navitas Organics (more info)
- Live it Up Super Greens powders and packets in Original and Wild Berry flavors (more info)
- Canned yellowfin tuna in olive oil under the Genova brand name (more info)
- ‘Outbreak’ of rashes in a daycare in Massachusetts. 11 children between 1 and 5 years old were sent to the hospital when they appeared to develop similar rashes. The “outbreak” was found not to be infectious, but was instead traced back to soap used at the daycare. It appears that commercial-grade dish cleaner was in the hand soap dispensers. The children are reported to have fairly minor, superficial rashes.
- Avian flu outbreak in poultry in Pennsylvania. This past week, more than 700,000 poultry on a commercial egg layer farm were affected by an avian flu outbreak in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There were two additional detections this week in the county, affecting more than 70,000 additional birds.
- FOI Clinical launches Wednesday. It’s a weekly outbreak intelligence briefing for clinicians, covering reportable diseases, emerging outbreaks, and policy changes that affect patient care plus real-time health alerts for fast-moving events. Medscape and NPR have both covered FOI Clinical. Pre-launch pricing ($10/month) is still available. If you’re a clinician, or you would find this useful, now is the time: foiclinical.com.
