Flu, RSV climb in Georgia as winter virus season starts slowly

Georgia’s winter respiratory virus season is off to a slow start, with Covid numbers low. But local doctors say they are seeing an uptick in flu and RSV cases, and they expect numbers to rise over the coming months.

There are steps people can take to mitigate the spread of these viruses ahead of the holidays, Dr. Sara Turbow, a doctor at Grady Health and a professor of medicine at Emory University, and Dr. Andrew Thornton of Wellstar said, starting with vaccinations for all three illnesses.

“It’s never too late. Even if you get it five days before Christmas, I would say that that’s better than not getting it at all,” Turbow said. The vaccines are widely available at pharmacies and many doctor’s offices. The vaccines take about two weeks to provide full coverage.

Getting the vaccines is well worth it because the viral respiratory diseases can cause people to feel unwell, have to take time off work or school, and, in some cases, progress to bacterial pneumonia, the doctors said.

“I worry more about the complications that come from these illnesses, and pneumonia is a big one,” Thornton said. “We have already started to see an increase in pneumonia in the last month.”

While many patients can successfully be treated for pneumonia at home, others may require hospitalization, and it could lead to serious complications like sepsis, a systemic infection. He said people should also make sure they are up-to-date on pneumonia vaccines.

Much of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data collection about the three respiratory viruses was put on hold during the government shutdown. Since operations resumed Nov. 13, those surveillance systems have started to publish data again, though there is a lag of a few weeks.

The data mirror what the local doctors are reporting, with increases in RSV and flu rates and relatively low Covid rates.

“Usually, December, January, we start to see a lot of Covid cases, right along with an increase in flu, as well as RSV,” Thornton said. He reported an increase in flu and pneumonia among the patients of all ages that he sees at Wellstar urgent care clinics. Turbow said she’s seeing an increase in RSV among adult patients.

People can take other steps like masking in group settings, including airplanes and airports, and frequently washing their hands to help prevent the spread of these diseases, Turbow and Thornton said.

Turbow said she’s not as strict about masking as she was during the Covid pandemic but always tries to have a mask with her in case she’s in a crowded setting or next to someone who is coughing.

“It’s good to have that mask on hand if you find yourself near someone or sitting next to someone who’s visibly sick,” Turbow said. “You don’t want to be stuck on a multiple-hour flight next to somebody who’s coughing and sneezing.”

Drugs like Paxlovid, taken within five days of contracting of Covid, and Tamiflu, within about 48 hours of contracting flu, can help ward off more serious complications, especially for those at high risk, Thornton said.

“If you do it in the right patient and at the right time frame, it can reduce risk of complications like pneumonia,” Thornton said. Urgent care centers and retail clinics are able to test and treat the diseases, Turbow said, and people should consider going to those if they can’t get in to see their regular doctor instead of an emergency room.

Here’s what the data show:

Covid

• Hospitalization rates per 100,000 are lower than last year for October and November in Georgia, with few emergency department visits (under 0.5%) for Covid in the same period.
• While Covid rates are likely to grow or are already growing in many Midwestern and Northeastern states, as well as Alabama, the CDC does not predict a change in Covid rates in Georgia.

Flu

• Nationally, seasonal activity is on the rise, according to the CDC, with an increase in positive tests over the past week.
• That’s mirrored in a rise in positive flu tests in Georgia, according to state Department of Public Health data. More than 18% of flu tests at clinical laboratories tested positive for flu from Nov. 16 to 29, up over just 5.6% the week prior to Nov. 16. The vast majority of the positive flu tests were for Influenza A.

• Visits to select outpatient health care facilities for illnesses like influenza have also increased since September, but at 3.4% are lower than in the past four flu seasons beginning in 2021, according to state data.
• Flu hospitalization rates have ticked up since mid-November, with the latest data from Nov. 29 showing a rate of 1.2 hospitalizations per 100,000 people, according to data from the CDC’s Flu View. Last year, Georgia’s flu-related hospitalizations started to climb in early December and peaked in late January and early February at a rate of 13.4 per 100,000 people before falling.
• In real terms, that means 194 hospitalizations in Georgia since early October, with four deaths. That’s higher than last year, when there were 75 hospitalizations in the same period.

RSV

• RSV positivity rates are increasing in Georgia, from 2.8% in early October to 14.4% for the last week in November, according to DPH data. At the same time last year, about one-fifth of all RSV tests were positive.

Rebecca Grapevineis a reporter covering public health in Atlanta for Healthbeat. Contact Rebecca at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org. Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News. Sign up for their newsletters here.

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