Flu hitting harder and earlier than past 2 years and levels in New Jersey are already at ‘very high.’ Emergency department visits and admissions continue to rise for influenza, COVID-19 and RSV, with influenza showing the sharpest increase. The majority of emergency department visits that resulted in admissions associated with COVID-19 and influenza have been reported in persons 65 years and older, and with RSV, have been reported in persons aged 0-4 years
and 65 years and older. Test positivity remains elevated for influenza, RSV, and rhinovirus/enterovirus. Wastewater viral activity for influenza A is at low and continues to increase. Wastewater viral activity for COVID-19 and RSV are very low, but increasing. The predominant COVID-19 variant in circulation is XFG, a subvariant of Omicron covered by COVID-19 vaccines. Respiratory outbreaks recently reported in long-term care facilities are due to COVID-19 and influenza, while those in schools are primarily due to influenza. Data from the NJDOH Syndromic Surveillance System (EpiCenter) shows the weekly percent of emergency department visits and visits that resulted in hospitalizations associated with COVID-19, Influenza, and/or RSV diagnoses codes reported by 79 New Jersey emergency departments. Flu vaccination.