By Heather Gann
As of Jan. 11, Alabama is reporting “very high” ILI activity, which is the percentage of patients presenting with symptoms like fever and body aches. CDC
Alabama is one of ten states currently recording some of the highest influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in the nation, according to the CDC.
As of Jan. 11, Alabama is reporting “very high” ILI activity, which is patients presenting with symptoms like fever and body aches, the CDC site says.
The state is just two levels under the highest possible category on the CDC’s ILI rating system, which is one level below where it was last week.
And it remains in the “high” ranking for COVID and RSV levels detected in the wastewater, according to the CDC.
However, according to Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) data, emergency department visits for flu, COVID, and RSV have decreased by 19% overall since the first week of January.
But Dr. Wes Stubblefield, medical officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health, previously said he anticipates numbers won’t peak until early February.
“We will always see, after kids come back to school, a spread of respiratory pathogens,” he said.
Doctors at Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Hospital (DCH) have reported an increase in RSV cases in west Alabama recently, according to WBRC.
And national CDC predictions say that flu numbers are expected to remain “at a high or very high level” for the next two weeks.
To keep yourself and others healthy, the ADPH recommends getting vaccinated for the flu and COVID and that adults 60 and over and infants get vaccinated for RSV.
They also recommend social distancing from others if you feel any viral respiratory symptoms like a cough, body aches, or a fever.
And Stubblefield said students should be “fever free for 24 hours” before returning to the classroom.
