Respiratory-virus activity ticks up a bit, but hospital admissions fall; flu remains driver for respiratory admissions, ER visits in Ky.

The state Department for Public Health says respiratory virus activity ticked up a bit in Kentucky in the last week of March, but remained at a relatively low level, while hospitalizations for respiratory disease declined but remained at a level that the department considers moderate.

In the week ended March 30, emergency-room visits for influenza, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) increased almost 5% to 1,796. Of those, 1,508 were for the flu.

But in that same week, hospital admissions for the diseases dropped 19%, to 233.  Of those, 135 were for flu, 85 were for Covid-19 and 13 were for RSV.

In the week ended March 30, every Kentucky county had a low rate of Covid-19 hospital admissions, considered to be less than 10 admissions per 100,000 people by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state reported 1,431 laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu in the week ended March 30, showing the first uptick in confirmed flu cases since mid-February. The state reported 857 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19, which have declined for seven weeks in a row.

The Kentucky Respiratory Disease Dashboard is now reporting Kentucky monthly death information for all Kentuckians since October 2023 as well as a separate category for those 65 and older during the 2023-24 respiratory season.

The dashboard shows that since the flu season began in October,  there have been a total of 524 deaths attributed to Covid-19, with 447 of them in people 65 and older. One Covid-19 victim and one flu victim were children. There have been 121 flu-related deaths, with 74 in people 65 and older. Ten deaths have been attributed to co-infection, with two of in people 65 and older.