PHOENIX — Arizona hospitals are being hit by a mixture of COVID-19, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Influenza.
Some confirmed case numbers are rising, while others are not.
COVID-19 weekly confirmed cases are down according to the weekly report issued by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The health department reported 10,630 confirmed COVID-19 cases for this past week, the lowest weekly number since October. While this does not guarantee cases are slowing in Arizona, it is a good sign.
The weekly influenza report showed 5,181 influenza cases last week that were severe enough to be recorded by hospital surveillance.
This is a 7% increase from the week prior and much higher than the peak of the five-season average, which occurred in the first week of January and is just under 2,000 cases.
Parents of small children will be relieved to know that RSV cases reported by hospital surveillance are also coming down.
The state reported 1,202 RSV cases, a 22% decrease from last week. The weekly number is still more than triple the five-season average for RSV, 376 cases peaking in late 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% in October.
Influenza made up 30% of cases and is likely to rise.
RSV meanwhile makes up about 7%.
At this point in the pandemic, most confirmed COVID-19 cases reported to the health department are coming from either hospitals or health clinics.
Influenza and RSV cases are derived from a hospital surveillance system that is implemented nationwide. Due to this, hospital capacity numbers are an important factor to consider.
In October, the seven-day average of inpatient beds utilized in Arizona’s hospitals was under the COVID-19 pandemic average of 74%.
Today hospital capacity is closer to 80%, but that is a slight drop from last week. Last year’s winter surge of COVID-19 had bed utilization at around 85%.
