COVID-19 and Respiratory Illness Activity Report - March 23, 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 March 23, 2024 are low in all counties.
• The percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 in the past week is a timely measure of mortality trends. For the week ending March 23, 2024, 1.6% of deaths were due to COVID-19 (CDC COVID Data Tracker).
• In the past week, 0.5% of emergency department visits were diagnosed as COVID-19 (CDC COVID Data Tracker).
• In the four weeks leading up to March 23rd, JN.1 accounted for 88.0% of sequenced variants and JN.1.13 accounted for 9.1% of sequenced variants.
• For the week ending March 23, 2024, one COVID-19 outbreaks and one 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 are low and stable.

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.