Effective May 1, 2024, hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 and influenza hospital admissions, hospital capacity, or hospital occupancy data to HHS through CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). CDC encourages ongoing, voluntary reporting of hospitalization data. Data voluntarily reported to NHSN after May 1, 2024 were made available starting May 10, 2024 on COVID Data Tracker Hospitalizations (COVID-19) and data.cdc.gov (COVID-19 and influenza).
Starting May 10, 2024, the source of hospitalization data for COVID-19 and influenza changed from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) to CDC’s sentinel surveillance network, RESP-NET. RESP-NET was the existing source for RSV hospitalization data on this website. Additional information on RESP-NET is available at RESP-NET Interactive Dashboard.
Severe Viral Respiratory Illness
Provides an update on how respiratory viruses are contributing to serious health outcomes, like hospitalizations and deaths.
Illness Severity Update:
- Rates of hospitalization related to COVID-19, influenza, and RSV continue to decrease in most parts of the country.
- Nationally, for the week ending April 20, the percent of total deaths due to COVID-19, influenza, or RSV remained stable at 1.2%. The percent of COVID-19 deaths (0.9%) decreased slightly, the percent of influenza deaths (0.3%) remained stable, and the percent of RSV deaths remained below 0.01%.
Reported on Friday, May 3rd, 2024.
Trends in Hospitalization Rates
Weekly hospitalization rates of respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations per 100,000 population. Preliminary data are shaded in gray.
- Source: Respiratory Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RESP-NET).
- Additional information available at: https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/resp-net/dashboard.html.
- Effective May 1, 2024, hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 and influenza hospital admissions data to HHS through CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Data voluntarily reported to NHSN on and after May 1, 2024 will be available starting May 10, 2024 on COVID Data Tracker Hospitalizations (COVID-19) and data.cdc.gov (COVID-19 and influenza), and are no longer presented on this page. Starting May 10, 2024, the source of hospitalization data for COVID-19 and influenza was changed from NHSN to CDC’s sentinel surveillance network, RESP-NET. RESP-NET was the existing source for RSV hospitalization data on this website. The NHSN-based hospital bed occupancy page was archived on May 10, 2024; it can be found at Archived: Hospital Occupancy (cdc.gov).
- Data are collected through a network of acute care hospitals in select counties or county equivalents in 13 states for COVID-19 surveillance, 14 states for influenza surveillance, and 12 states for RSV surveillance; data are provided for the overall combined network and for each state with contributing hospitals.
- Data are preliminary and subject to change as more data become available. In particular, case counts and rates for recent hospital admissions are subject to lag. Data for the last two weeks may be affected by potential reporting delays; caution should be taken when interpreting these data.
- Incidence rates of respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations (per 100,000) are calculated using the U.S. Census vintage 2022 unbridged-race postcensal population estimates for the counties or county equivalents included in the surveillance area.
- These rates are likely to be underestimated as some RESP-NET-associated hospitalizations might be missed because of undertesting, differing provider or facility testing practices, and diagnostic test sensitivity. Rates presented do not adjust for testing practices which may differ by pathogen, age, race and ethnicity, and other demographic criteria.
- Surveillance for influenza-associated hospitalizations is typically conducted between October 1 and April 30 but will extend beyond April 30 for the 2023–2024 season for situational awareness during the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus among birds, poultry, dairy cattle, and other animals in the United States (H5N1 Bird Flu: Current Situation Summary | Avian Influenza (Flu) (cdc.gov)); surveillance for COVID-19- and RSV-associated hospitalizations is conducted year-round.
Trends in Viral Respiratory Deaths in the United States
Weekly percent of total deaths associated with COVID-19, influenza, and RSV. Preliminary data are shaded in gray.
- Source: Provisional Deaths from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). Accessed from https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10-provisional.html
- Provisional data are non-final counts of deaths based on the flow of mortality data in NVSS. Data during recent periods are incomplete because of the lag in time between when a death occurs and when a death certificate is completed, submitted to NCHS, and processed for reporting. This delay can range from 1 week to 8 weeks or more, depending on the jurisdiction.
- Definitions: Provisional data are non-final counts of deaths based on the flow of mortality data in NVSS. Cause-specific death counts are defined as those deaths with the designated ICD-10 codes listed as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate. The ICD-10 code definitions are as follows: COVID-19 (U07.1), Influenza (J09-J11), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (J12.1, J20.5, J21.0).
- The death certificate data presented here provide a timely understanding of trends in deaths associated with each condition. However, it has been long recognized that only counting deaths where influenza was recorded on death certificates would underestimate influenza’s overall impact on mortality. Influenza can lead to death from other causes, such as pneumonia and congestive heart failure; however, it may not be listed on the death certificate as a contributing cause for multiple reasons, including a lack of testing. Therefore, CDC has an established history of using models to estimate influenza-associated death totals. While under-reporting of deaths attributed to RSV- and COVID-19 likely also occurs, regularly updated model estimates are currently not available. Modeled burden estimates for influenza are not directly comparable to death certificate derived counts for COVID-19 and RSV.
- Death data are displayed by date of death. Death data reported are based on the total number of deaths received and coded as of the date of analysis and may not represent all deaths that occurred in that period.
- Percent of deaths is not presented for weeks where death counts are between 1-9 in accordance with NCHS data confidentiality standards.
- Provisional death data represent deaths among U.S. residents and occurring in the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. Assignment to a geographic area is based on the place of residence listed on the death certificate. Data from U.S. territories are not currently included in NVSS provisional reporting.
- The percentage of all reported deaths that are attributed as COVID-19/Influenza/Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is calculated as the number of COVID-19/Influenza/Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) deaths divided by the number of deaths from all causes multiplied by 100. The percentage of deaths is less affected by incomplete reporting in recent weeks because death certificate data from natural causes of death and all causes have similar timeliness.