What You Need To Know
Please find the NJDOH Respiratory Illness Surveillance Report. This report summarizes surveillance information for COVID-19, Influenza, RSV, and other respiratory illnesses.
Report highlights:
- Influenza activity is elevated and continues to sharply increase in NJ; including the number of cases, emergency department visits, resulting hospital admissions, test positivity, and wastewater detections. This week, emergency department visits that resulted in admissions and outpatient visits due to influenza-like illness have exceeded last season's and admissions continue to be predominantly in persons 65 years and older.
- Influenza A(H3N2) is the predominant subtyped influenza virus so far this season, and has been associated with increased severity in past seasons. A majority of A(H3N2) viruses further tested at CDC belong to an emerging subclade K, however the impact of this drift on the current season is unclear.
- The number of emergency department visits due to RSV resulting in hospital admissions increased this week, predominantly in children less than 4 years of age, but also in persons 65 years of age and older. Test positivity remains elevated this week, but is lower than this time last year.
- COVID-19 activity remains low, but emergency department visits and hospital admissions have been increasing since early December. Hospital admissions continue to be predominantly in persons 65 years and older. The predominant variant continues to be Omicron XFG.
- Respiratory activity increased in K-12 schools and long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in December, predominantly due to influenza in K-12 schools and due to both COVID-19 and influenza in LTCFs.
- Test positivity increased for several other respiratory viruses in December, consistent with seasonal trends. Rhinovirus and enterovirus test positivity, which peaked in September, continues to decline.
Please contact the Communicable Disease Service at 609-826-5964 with any questions about the report.