PHOENIX – Hospitals in Arizona are being hit by a mix of COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza.
Some numbers of confirmed cases are increasing, others are not.
Weekly confirmed cases of COVID-19 are down according to the weekly report released by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The health department reported 10,630 confirmed cases of COVID-19 last week, the lowest weekly number since October. While that doesn’t guarantee cases are slowing in Arizona, it’s a good sign.
The weekly flu report showed 5,181 cases of flu last week that were severe enough to be recorded by hospital surveillance.
This is an increase of 7% from the previous week and well above the peak of the five-season average, which occurred during the first week of January and is just under 2,000 cases.
Parents of young children will be relieved to learn that RSV cases reported by hospital surveillance are also on the decline.
The state reported 1,202 cases of RSV, a 22% decrease from last week. The weekly number is still more than triple the five-season average for RSV, with 376 cases peaking at the end of January.
Of the three respiratory viruses, COVID-19 is still dominant.
Sixty-two percent of confirmed cases were COVID-19. This is down from 93% recorded in October.
Influenza accounted for 30% of cases and is expected to increase.
RSV represents regarding 7%.
At this point in the pandemic, most confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported to the health department are from hospitals or health clinics.
Influenza and RSV cases come from a nationally implemented hospital surveillance system. For this reason, the number of hospital capacities is an important factor to consider.
In October, the seven-day average of inpatient beds used in Arizona hospitals was below the COVID-19 pandemic average of 74%.
Today, hospital capacity is closer to 80%, but that’s down slightly from last week. Last year’s winter surge of COVID-19 had bed utilization of around 85%.
