March 22, 2023 – Each week, we will compile the latest data regarding flu and COVID-19 cases in the United States. As things change, we hope that this information will paint a better picture of what to look for in emerging COVID variant and in the upcoming flu season.
According to the CDC’s Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report, there have been 666 (1.0%) positive influenza specimens out of a total of 66,138 specimens tested in clinical laboratories. Influenza A makes up 441 of those cases, while Influenza B makes up 225 of the cases. The data from clinical laboratories are used to monitor whether flu activity is increasing or decreasing.
The CDC’s COVID-19 tracker reports that there are a daily average of 21,422 new cases (a 19.7% decrease from the week before) and a daily average of 2,757 new hospitalizations (a 7.9% decrease from the previous week). The CDC says that there are several “lineages of omicron and within each are multiple sublineages.” The most dominant strains are XBB.1.5 projected at 90.2% and BQ.1.1, BQ.1 and XBB all projected to be between 2.2% and 3.5% of circulating lineages.