Flu, COVID-19 cases rise in Dallas, Fort Worth ahead of year-end holidays

Just as families and friends prepare to gather to celebrate the holidays, respiratory virus season brings a wave of flu and coronavirus cases to North Texas.

Covid-19 hospitalizations increased from less than 300 in early November to 533 on Tuesday, December 19, according to the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Board.

The number of people testing positive for the flu is also increasing in Dallas County, from 2.9% for the week ending Nov. 11 to 9.6% for the week ending Dec. 9.

“With the holidays approaching and people traveling, it’s best to take extra precautions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19,” said Steve Love, president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Hospital Board.

“Many people have tested positive for Covid-19 at home but fortunately they have not required hospitalization.”

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations remains well below the more than 4,000 people in January 2022 at the peak of Omicron’s surge in cases.

The current numbers look more like data from a year ago, when North Texas hospitals recorded 765 COVID-19 patients on Dec. 30, 2022.

Multiple new coronavirus strains are circulating in Texas, but the HV.1 and JN.1 subvariants are dominant, each accounting for 27.3% of cases as of December 9, according to statistics from the state Department of Health Services.

Recently, the World Health Organization declared JN.1 a “variant of concern” because of its rapid spread around the world.

Unlike COVID-19 and the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections have surged for weeks, filling nearly every pediatric bed in a Dallas-Fort Worth hospital, but the virus appears to be receding.

RSV cases at Children’s Health dropped from 493 cases in the week beginning November 26 to 296 cases in the week beginning December 10.

RSV can be fatal to infants and the elderly because it causes small airways to swell or become clogged with mucus.

An 8-month-old baby in the region was infected with respiratory syncytial virus, coronavirus, adenovirus and rhinovirus at the same time and was hospitalized for five days.

After several years of early and unpredictable flu and cold seasons disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, trends appear to be normalizing this year, said Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, director of infectious diseases at Children’s Health.

“After all the craziness we’ve seen during the pandemic, this year is starting to look more like a normal year,” said Kahn, who is also a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

When the flu will peak is another question.

Flu is more unpredictable because multiple strains of the virus are circulating at the same time.

Positive test results for influenza A and B in Dallas County.

“If you look at historical data, you’ll find that flu peaks in December, sometimes in January, sometimes in February,” Kahn noted. “Sometimes there are even a few spikes.”

Experts advise the public to practice good hygiene when gathering to celebrate Christmas and New Year – wash hands regularly and practice social distancing where possible.

It’s not too late to get vaccinated against the circulating virus.

Federal regulators approved new protections against RSV, such as a vaccine for adults over 60 and pregnant women and a monoclonal antibody for infants.

Anyone over 6 months old can get a flu vaccine, and anyone over 6 months old can get the newer booster vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna if they haven’t had a Covid-19 vaccine in the past two months.

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