December 4, 2024- Despite a slow start to respiratory disease season, low vaccination rates may begin to threaten trends, according to CNN. Vaccination is expected to play a key role in preventing hospitalizations this respiratory season, according to the CDC. The test positivity rate for RSV is currently rising significantly faster than it is for flu or Covid-19, CDC data shows.
For children, however, virus-related hospitalization rates among children are rising more quickly, with about 3 RSV hospitalizations for every 100,000 children during the week ending November 23, twice as many as a month earlier, according to the CDC and CNN. There were at least 21 hospitalizations for every 100,000 infants that week, up from less than 14 a month earlier. Meanwhile, the hospitalization rate for adults hasn’t risen above 0.5 so far this season.
Walking pneumonia in children has continued to increase as well, and surveillance data from the US this year suggests that hospital visits peaked in August and have stayed elevated since – especially among children. The increase in children ages 2 to 4 is notable because walking pneumonia typically isn’t a leading driver of disease for this age group, according to the CDC.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that this respiratory illness season could be similar to last year, but the peak rate of respiratory virus hospitalizations will likely be above the typical rates in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC recommends that adults and children get vaccinated for both the flu and COVID-19 to prevent respiratory illness.