COVID-19 and Respiratory Illness Activity Report - February 24, 2024

What You Need To Know 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released updated respiratory virus guidance for non-healthcare settings. NJDOH guidance is currently under review. Below please find the COVID-19 and Respiratory Illness Activity Report. This report summarizes surveillance information for COVID-19, RSV, and other non-influenza viral respiratory illnesses.

Report Highlights:

• CDC COVID-19 Hospital Admission Levels for the MMWR week ending February 24, 2024 are medium in 2 counties (Monmouth and Ocean) and low in all other counties.
• The percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 in the past week is a timely measure of mortality trends. For the week ending February 24, 2024, 2.1% of deaths were due to COVID-19 (CDC COVID Data Tracker).
• In the past week, 1.2% of emergency department visits were diagnosed as COVID-19 (CDC COVID Data Tracker).
• In the four weeks leading up to February 24th, JN.1 accounted for 97.9% of sequenced variants.
• For the week ending February 24, 2024, three COVID-19 outbreaks and three non-flu viral respiratory disease outbreaks were reported into the SIC module by K-12 schools.
• RSV percent positivity and the percentage of emergency department visits with a diagnosis of RSV have been decreasing since mid-December.

This report can be found on the NJDOH website. Please contact the Communicable Disease Service at 609-826-5964 with any questions about the report.