Force of Infection is now on the summer schedule, meaning national Outbreak Outlook updates are only available to paid subscribers. The winter schedule, including the free national version, will resume in October. To continue receiving reports during the summer, please upgrade to paid.
Influenza-like illness
Seasonal influenza activity is low. Trips to the doctor for symptoms like fever, cough and sore throat (referred to as outpatient influenza-like illness or ILI) account for less than 1% of outpatient visits.
The West remains slightly above the national average, but lower than last week. The Midwest continues to have the lowest ILI at 0.5% and remains steady. There is a slight uptick in outpatient influenza in the South, driven primarily by increases in Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Texas, and Tennessee. The uptick is small and likely just a temporary blip.
Outpatient ILI for infants and young children under 4 years continues to trend downward toward 3%, while all other age groups are below 2%.
Covid-19
Activity for Covid-19 remains low across the country, with emergency department (ED) visits hovering just below 0.2%. That said, hospitalization rates related to Covid-19 have ticked up slightly to 0.3 per 100,000. We've been reporting for several weeks about increases in ED visits, wastewater, and test positivity. Increased hospitalizations add to the evidence that the summer season is underway.