United States: Over a dozen states have been moved up to ‘high’ or ‘very high’ community levels of respiratory disease, and some have been compelled to close schools and call off holiday functions.
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Two states that report exceptionally high incidences of flu, Covid, RSV, and other respiratory diseases include Oregon and Louisiana, with data for the week extending up to December 14.
High levels have been reported in California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, New Jersey, the District of Columbia and New York City.
The number of states at either of these levels was twice a week ago, and experts claim that people get sick rapidly.
Flu and RSV outbreak cancels Christmas events and closes schools early ahead of the holidays https://t.co/UltR8jtweT pic.twitter.com/pE0keg2uFB
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) December 23, 2024
In some states, hospitals are bringing back mask mandates in an attempt to stop it.
As Dr William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, tackling a respiratory illness spike in the Nashville area, stated, “Flu has been increasing, but just this last week has exploded.”
What are the experts stating?
Alabama was the newest state to be upgraded this week, and the state had to close schools for three days at one school in Limestone County as the district dealt with a flu epidemic.
Furthermore, Sugar Creek Elementary School made clear that it had “been monitoring the amount of sickness among students and staff” and resorted to shutting down for three days “to give our students and staff a chance to recover and stop the spread,” DailyMail reported.
Moreover, the school also postponed a holiday event until next month “due to the high number of illnesses in our school and community.”
ADPH medical officer Wes Stubblefield said the number of flu-like illnesses in the state keeps increasing.
On a national level, the positive influenza lab tests are up nine percent, and 9,000 people have been hospitalized in the past week.
General practitioners have recorded a four percent increase in visits for the flu, while a further two fatalities as a result of the virus have been noted this week.
According to the CDC, as of the 2024-2025 flu season, there were approximately two million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations, and approximately 1,000 deaths. They partly blame the extremely high flu activity this early in the season for low vaccination uptake.