Outbreak Outlook - West - Jan 27

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Respiratory Diseases

ILI

As I wrote in the National edition, the Trump administration’s pause on health communications interrupted flu data, specifically outpatient influenza-like illness. To close the gap, I visited all 50 websites of the state health departments, and gathered what I could. I found that Idaho, Arizona and Colorado all saw declines in outpatient ILI, while Wyoming registered a small increase.

At the national level, flu defied my expectations by resurging after two consecutive weeks of improvement. Luckily, the Western region has mostly escaped that trend, with general declines in both hospitalizations and ED visits. The Southwest and Mountain regions in particular saw decreases in hospitalization rates. The Pacific coastal states maintain more stable, though elevated, levels of activity.

Hawaii leads the entire region with ED visits at 7.0% (slightly down from 7.2%, but still very high).

California shows moderate but consistent activity with ED visits at 4.9% (up from 4.7%) and hospitalizations at 6.1 per 100,000 (down from 6.5). Washington maintains steady levels with ED visits at 4.0% (up slightly from 3.9%), while Oregon shows declining activity with ED visits at 3.4% (down from 4.0%) and hospitalizations at 4.0 per 100,000 (down from 5.9).

New Mexico and Arizona show significant decreases in activity. New Mexico's ED visits are at 4.9% (down from 5.6%) with a dramatic drop in hospitalizations to 1.5 per 100,000 (down from 6.6). Arizona reports ED visits at 4.8% (down from 6.1%), with ILI visits down at 5.1%. Nevada shows lower activity with ED visits at 3.2% (down from 3.9%).

Utah reports ED visits at 4.4% (down from 5.0%) with hospitalizations at 3.4 per 100,000 (down from 6.2). Idaho shows steady activity with ED visits at 3.3% (down from 3.4%), with ILI visits at 5.4%.

Colorado maintains moderate levels with ED visits at 4.0% (down from 4.1%) and hospitalizations at 4.2 per 100,000 (down from 5.5), with ILI visits at 4.1%.

Montana shows an uptick with ED visits at 3.0% (up from 2.5%). Alaska reports declining activity with ED visits at 2.4% (down from 3.2%). Wyoming reports minimal ED visit activity, with ILI visits up slightly to 3.4%.

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COVID-19