This week’s full report covers flu, Covid-19 and RSV in all 16 Southern states and Washington, DC, plus a dengue update from Florida and a measles case in Nashville. Try it free for 7 days, then $5 a month. Cancel online anytime.
Influenza-like illness
The South still has the most flu of any region, and activity is still rising. Flu accounts for 2.7% of emergency department (ED) visits, up from 2.2%, and outpatient influenza-like illness rose from 3.2% to 3.9%. Flu test positivity also rose, from 12.4% to 15.4%.
This week's gain in ED visits was a little smaller than last week's, but the gains in outpatient illness are still growing, so we're in the thick of it. Hospital admissions for influenza rose for the twelfth straight week, to 3.5 per 100,000, about five times as high as this time last year.
Louisiana now has the highest flu hospitalization rate in the country, at 6.7 per 100,000, passing Florida (5.7). Louisiana's outpatient influenza-like illness is also the highest of any state, at 7.4%. Texas has passed Florida on ED visits. Flu accounts for 3.9% of ED visits there, up from 2.9%, second only to Hawaii.
