ER visits for COVID, flu, RSV declining, CDC says

The threat of a “tripledemic” of COVID-19, influenza and a virus known as RSV is fading fast, with steep declines in emergency room visits for the respiratory viruses since last month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says emergency visits for the three viruses combined have dropped off from nearly 236,000 in the week ending Dec. 3 to 72,000 in the week ending Jan. 14.

Influenza hit early and hard but peaked in early December. There’s also been a sharp drop in ER visits for the respiratory syncytial virus, which can harm infants. It peaked in mid-November.

COVID-19 seems to have peaked earlier this month after holiday gatherings posed the threat of greater transmission. Hospitalizations have faded since then, with about 37,000 admitted for this disease this week compared to nearly 50,000 earlier this month.

It’s a stark contrast to the COVID-19 situation this time last year. The omicron surge caused nearly 160,000 people to be hospitalized for the virus at one point.

Since then, Americans have built up a wall of immunity from prior infections and the vaccines have been fine-tuned to attack circulating variants.

The overall picture should have ER doctors and public officials sighing with relief, at least for now. There had been dire warnings that the trifecta of viruses could inundate hospitals and cause widespread havoc.

“It appears that influenza and RSV began their seasons early and peaked early,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

He said there have been years when the influenza B strain surges a bit later in the season, which remains a possibility.

Also, the fast-moving XBB.1.5 subvariant of coronavirus that blanketed the Northeast could cause a rise in cases in other parts of the country. It is the most transmissible variant discovered so far and accounts for about half of U.S. cases.

It is also unclear whether the burst of cases in China will have spillover effects in the U.S. or other countries.

“For COVID and the new XBB.1.5, this may sawtooth for a bit and go up and down before it finally subsides in the spring,” said Peter Hotez, an infectious diseases specialist at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. “Also, we could see a new variant emerge out of the COVID catastrophe in China.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.