(NEXSTAR) – The U.S. is beginning to see indicators of an early flu season this yr. According to monitoring by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, visits to medical doctors’ places of work for respiratory sickness are already above baseline ranges, and extra persons are testing constructive for influenza, particularly in the south and southeast.
The CDC tracks influenza activity on a map exhibiting all U.S. states and territories. The map, which makes use of knowledge by means of Oct. 15, shows just one place — Washington, D.C. — with flu activity categorized as “very high.”
Five states, proven on the map in purple, have a “high” degree of flu activity: Texas, New York, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.
Louisiana, Alabama and Puerto Rico are additionally categorized as “high,” however have decrease numbers and subsequently are shaded in orange.
Some native jurisdictions additionally report knowledge to the CDC. Of these with knowledge obtainable, the metro areas of San Antonio, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; and Columbus, Georgia, had “very high” ranges.
The map isn’t based mostly off confirmed influenza lab exams, however quite tracks the place persons are going to the physician with flu-like signs (respiratory sickness and fever, plus a cough or sore throat). Because of that, the map “may capture patient visits due to other respiratory pathogens that cause similar symptoms,” the CDC explains.
Flu season is ramping up concurrently kids’s hospitals are reeling from an onslaught of young patients with Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV. CDC tracking shows RSV instances spiking over the previous month.
On high of that, there’s at all times the specter of one other COVID-19 surge as we head into the colder months, and other people transfer outside socializing indoors, the place the virus spreads extra rapidly.
“This virus actually knows how to get us. It follows humans, meaning that we are going to be together, we’re going to be in those spaces with poor ventilation, and COVID-19 loves that,” stated Dr. Ilan Shapiro, chief medical affairs officer at AltaMed in Los Angeles. Influenza and RSV additionally unfold rapidly beneath the identical circumstances, Shapiro stated.
All three viruses even have overlapping symptoms. If you are feeling sick and aren’t positive which virus you have got — COVID, influenza or RSV — Shapiro recommends getting examined, as every virus has totally different remedy choices.
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