Flu cases rise sharply in NJ while levels of COVID-19 fall
By: Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... New Jersey is seeing a good news, bad news type of winter when it comes to respiratory illnesses.
.....
The good: COVID-19 levels are down significantly from years past, according to state data and interviews with physicians.
..... The bad: Influenza is on the rise again thanks to a post-holiday season surge that has seen emergency rooms and doctors' offices inundated with sick patients, prompting some hospitals to require face masks.
..... "This has been a very busy flu season for us," said Dr. Daniel Varga, chief physician executive at Hackensack Meridian Health, the state's largest medical network. "We're seeing influenza at levels we haven't seen since the pandemic."
..... The cause of COVID's decline is not known, although it has been competing with many more viruses in New Jersey and nationwide over the past few months. Outbreaks of norovirus, an easily transmittable stomach bug, are far outpacing last winter's [2024] numbers. this past autumn [2024] saw the number of whooping cough cases rise sharply in New Jersey,prompting a public health advisory.
..... The percentage of flu diagnoses in New Jersey emergency rooms was near 6% last week [01/09/2025] while COVID hovered around 1%, said a report released Thursday [01/09/2025] by the state Health Department.
..... Last January, [2024] the percentages were much closer. Flu diagnoses were around 5% and COVID was at 4%. In fact, emergency room visits for COVID were greater in New Jersey in late July, August and early September [2024] than they are now.
..... "COVID has been - knock on wood - much lower for us than it was at this tie last year," [2024]
Varga said. He cautioned that COVID could easily roar back if a new, more highly contagious variant emerges globally.
Vaccine rates drop for COVID, flu
..... It comes at a time when a small percentage of Americans are getting an annual COVID vaccine. About 11% of children have gotten the updated version and 22% of adults, with 44% of those age 65 and above getting the vaccine, according to the latest data from the federal Centers for disease Control and Prevention.
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Flu vaccinations are much greater but are trending lower than last season. About 42% of American children and 43% of adults had gotten a flu shot, including 68% of those above 65, as of January 3, [2025] CDC data shows.
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"It's not too late to get a flu shot," Varga said. "Flu seasons often continues through late March, early April, so there is always a risk until then."
..... Doctors are seeing patients get walloped with a one-two punch of influenza and then pneumonia soon after.
..... "They come in with the flu one week and come back with pneumonia the next,' said Dr. Suraj Kumar Saggar, Holy Name's chief of department for infectious diseases.
..... Englewood hospital has seen "high rates of influenza A, an increasing number of COVID-19 infections, and significant norovirus activity," said Dr. Erik Chu, chief of emergency medicine. "Admissions have risen, particularly among very young children, the elderly and individuals with underlying conditions."
Mask requirements at some hospitals
..... With levels rising, Englewood on Monday [01/06/2025] began requiring everyone to wear a mask at its hospital, off-site facilities and urgent care centers.
..... Others in the area, including Holy Name and Hackensack University Medical Center, have not.
..... Varga said masking requirement are based on the level of transmission in a given area. So while Hackensack does not enforce masking, five of its network facilities do; Ocean Medical Center in Brick, JFK Medical Center in Edison, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Jersey Shore medical Center in Neptune and the Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead.