PA Prepares As Flu Surges Across Nation

PENNSYLVANIA — Seasonal influenza cases remain at a low level across Pennsylvania, despite soaring rates in much of the rest of the country.

However, officials remain concerned about hospitalization rates. The healthcare system has remained stressed through the end of the pandemic, and a potential "tripledemic" of coronavirus, a respiratory illness called RSV, and the flu could converge in the cold weather months.

While Pennsylvania remains in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "low" activity level categorization, neighboring states including Maryland and New Jersey are high – and other parts of the country are being hit hard.

The flu has been detected in 60 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties thus far, with a total of 2,480 laboratory-confirmed cases, the Department of Health said.

Flu season typically peaks in December and January, and ends around May.

Nationally, there have been 880,000 lab-confirmed cases so far this season, and 6,900 hospitalizations. A total of 360 deaths have been reported. All are numbers

Flu practically vanished over the past couple of years as people wore face masks and stayed out of crowded places to avoid COVID-19, which has killed more than 1 million people since early 2020. In the past week, 265,893 people in the United States have tested positive and 19,454 were hospitalized with COVID-19.

Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, as the common childhood illness is officially known, also plummeted during the first two years of the pandemic, but doctors now report an sharp rise in cases.

RSV can cause breathing difficulties in young children. It's common, but the early surge in cases, coupled with seasonal peaks in influenza and COVID-19, has officials warning of a possible “tridemic” or “tripledemic."

At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, beds have been near or at capacity for weeks due to the virus, the Inquirer reports.

While state authorities have not issued a separate warning on RSV this year, they have noted that the potential mix of multiple viruses this winter could be "severe."

Some officials worry influenza numbers could rival the H1N1 swine flu pandemic of 2009, when 60.8 million people were sickened, including nearly 12,500 who died.

Less than a quarter of Americans have gotten flu shots, according to CDC data.