'Tripledemic' Fades As COVID, Flu, RSV Decline In NJ: New Data

NEW JERSEY — The "tripledemic" may have faded earlier than originally expected. COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) continue to decline after the triple threat filled emergency rooms and pediatric departments throughout the United States.

The flu and RSV peaked earlier than usual this season but have since faded below normal January levels. And the post-holiday COVID wave came nowhere close to last winter's omicron surge. In terms of maintaining capacity, New Jersey's hospitals fared better than the nation's as a whole.

But the simultaneous peak of respiratory viruses took some toll. State officials confirmed 337 COVID deaths in the past month, roughly 75 per week. The death toll includes 62 people in the past week, according to the CDC. New Jersey also reported its first pediatric influenza deaths since the the 2019-20 flu season, with four casualties in all.

Health experts caution that the flu season sometimes has two peaks, while RSV circulation around the nation has risen during the spring in recent years.

The CDC continues to recommend masking up for indoor, public spaces in four South Jersey counties with high COVID levels: Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem.

The CDC adopted the community-level metric — based on hospitalizations and case rates — in late February. The agency updates its color-coded COVID maps each Thursday, recommending masks in counties with high community levels. On Jan. 6, all New Jersey counties were in the high category.

The mask recommendations don't trigger any mandates in New Jersey, and people may also choose to continue masking in any setting. But the World Health Organization "continues to recommend the use of masks by the public in specific situations, and this update recommends their use irrespective of the local epidemiological situation, given the current spread of the COVID-19 globally," according to the agency's updated guidelines.

Hospitalizations Declining

New Jersey continued to progress this week, with hospitalizations fading for COVID and flu-like illness.

The state had 1,302 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected COVID as of Thursday — down from this winter's peak of 1,776 patients on Jan. 6.

New Jersey endured one of its worst flu seasons in recent memory late last year, with more than 10 percent of all ER visits linked to influenza-like illness in late November and early December. But the virus faded earlier than usual after generally peaking between December and February.

New Jersey's intensive-care units continue to fare better than the nation's as a whole, with 45.2 percent of the state's ICU beds in use as of Friday, according to federal data. Meanwhile, 75.7 percent of ICU beds in the U.S. are occupied.

Meanwhile, 65 percent of New Jersey's pediatric-hospital beds were occupied as of Thursday — the same rate as a week prior, according to NBC News analysis of federal data.

The New Jersey Department of Health also announced a fourth pediatric flu death in its weekly influenza report, released Wednesday. The decedent was a male between the ages 12 and 18, a state health department spokesperson told Patch. The three prior decedents were younger than 2 years old.

For more coronavirus numbers, visit the New Jersey Department of Health's COVID-19 dashboard, The New York Times data page for New Jersey, the CDC's data tracker and Biobot's wastewater webpage. Statistics on the flu and RSV come from the state health department's weekly surveillance reports on influenza and respiratory illness.