ASHEVILLE, NC – January 8, 2025 – There is a surge of respiratory viral infections, like COVID-19, influenza (the flu) and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), as people spend more time indoors during the cold winter months and due to an increase in indoor gatherings and travel during the holidays. However, the COVID pandemic has made us aware that we can take steps to reduce spreading respiratory viruses. Therefore, we must protect at-risk groups, like older adults and the immunocompromised, who remain susceptible to getting severely ill.
The CDC’s COVID Dashboard for the week ending on January 3rd shows:
- Between 1-9 of the deaths in North Carolina were due to COVID, the lowest level of 6 groups.
- Emergency department visits for COVID-19 are minimal in North Carolina, representing 1% of all visits, and with a moderate increase since last week.
Wastewater monitoring can be used to provide early warning for COVID outbreaks. Due to the holiday schedule, the Buncombe & Henderson counties wastewater monitoring dashboard was not updated this week. Wastewater monitoring data for more respiratory illnesses will be obtained during the respiratory illness season. During the week of December 22-28, the level of RSV viral activity in the North Carolina wastewater, measured at 3 sites, was high.
The CDC’s weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending on December 28th indicates that levels are either high or very high in 43 of the 48 continental states, particularly in the South and the West. North Carolina is at a high level.
The CDC reports that the weekly percent of positive tests for RSV in Region 4 (which are the states in the southeast U.S. including North Carolina) had climbed to more than 10% from November 16th to the present, reaching a peak of more than 15% just before Christmas. The most recent report on the week of December 28th shows that percent positivity is almost 15%. Positive test levels for RSV were above 10% last winter from October 7th to December 9th.
The weekly North Carolina Respiratory Virus Summary Dashboard was last updated for the week ending on December 28th. Almost 15% of all emergency room patients had symptoms of a respiratory viral illness and these have increased since last week. There were more than 17 hundred hospital admissions from the emergency department for people who had a diagnosis, or symptoms, of respiratory viral infection and they have increased since last week. These are at the highest levels since last winter.
Listen to the full report below:
Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, healthyasheville@ashevillefm.org