New year means new round of flu, RSV, COVID in New Jersey

😷 NJ should see an uptick in virus cases following the holidays

😷 COVID is low, RSV is high

😷 Flu vaccination is still available

You're done with the countdown to the new year. Now, you can begin the countdown until viruses potentially take over your home.

Respiratory illnesses are circulating throughout the Garden State. As of now, health professionals aren't detecting anything unusual this cold-and-flu season — but that doesn't mean much to residents who are burning up and in pain.

Medical facilities are bracing for a spike in patient appointments and drop-ins over the next few weeks, as the holiday season winds down and germs from all the gatherings find countless new hosts.

"People are going to be getting sick, and some are going to be getting very sick," said Dr. Edward Lifshitz, medical director for the Communicable Disease Service at the New Jersey Department of Health. "This is the time of year when we tend to get flu and COVID."

Seasonal influenza activity continues to rise in the state, according to weekly reports from NJDOH. Meanwhile, RSV activity is considered high and COVID-19 activity is considered low.

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"Best guess: we're probably about two weeks from a peak," Lifshitz said. "We are expecting that cases will likely increase for the next couple of weeks."

Flu vaccine

Experts are still pushing flu vaccination, which has been available already for months. Unless you've had the flu already, vaccination can help protect you from the virus or make the illness much less severe.

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Officials may not know until next month whether this season's flu vaccine is a good match for viruses in the community.

"Even when the flu vaccine does not match that well with the virus, it is still the most effective way we have at protecting individuals," Lifshitz said.

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