Traveling for the holidays? Here’s how to check flu and COVID levels at your destination

When you get ready to travel for the holidays, you may want to know how sick people are in destination where you are going.

As of Friday, 17 states are reporting “high” or “very high” levels of respiratory illness activity, federal health data shows. The states where illness activity is highest are scattered throughout the U.S. but most of the Southeastern states are seeing high levels, along with Western states like California, Nevada and Colorado. New Jersey and New York City also are seeing high levels, based on percentage of visits to outpatient healthcare providers or emergency departments for fever and cough or sore throat.

States with the lowest levels of respiratory illness are Minnesota and West Virginia. To check the level of respiratory activity in the area where you are traveling, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention respiratory illness dashboard.

“Every individual has a different risk tolerance and a different medical history,” said Alicia Budd, lead of domestic surveillance division of CDC. “It’s important to look at the surveillance, know the situation where you are going and be aware of what your risk will be.”

This year, as people board airplanes and cruise ships and load into their cars to celebrate with friends or family, fewer Americans are vaccinated against flu and COVID-19.  Only about 20% of U.S. adults say they have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine with most of the recipients ages 65 and older, according to the KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor. Also, as of Dec. 2, only 40.8% of U.S. adults have received the flu vaccine, which is about  2 percentage points lower than flu vaccine coverage at the same time a year ago.

Last week, the CDC sent an alert to healthcare providers, encouraging them to administer COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines as soon as possible.

“The flu strains now are well matched to the strains circulating,” Budd said. “It may not prevent you from getting the flu, but it reduces severity … it helps prime your immune system so you are  better able to respond and fight off infection or you don’t get as severely ill.”

Overall, in most areas of the U.S. the amount of respiratory illness (fever plus cough or sore throat) causing people to seek healthcare is elevated and ER visits are on the rise, according to data updated Dec. 15 from the CDC.

“This year we are seeing full-blown everything,” Budd said. “The timing of when one virus is surging and others are not can vary, but in some states you do see all three at same time.”

Flu is hitting hard

Flu, in particular, is on the increase across the country, just as airports are expecting more travelers.  Up to 5.4 million people in the United States already have been sick with the flu this fall with symptoms that include headache, fatigue and a lingering coughing, the CDC estimates.

If you’re traveling to cold climates, beware:  Health experts believe the flu virus survives better in cold weather, and cold, dry air weakens people’s resistance.

“I think we will see flu activity continuing to increase … I expect that to be the case for several more weeks,” Budd said.

The southeast, south-central, and west coast areas of the country are reporting the highest levels of flu activity.

In Florida, flu activity leading to emergency department visits is stable or decreasing  in most parts of the state as of Dec. 2, the most current data reported by the Florida’s Department of Health. Still flu activity in Florida is above the previous three-year average in all regions of the state.

COVID-19 is still out there

COVID-19 also is circulating at high levels in some parts of the country. The new COVID variant JN.1, a descendent of Omicron, has become an increasing share of cases, the CDC’s tracking shows.  The variant will be responsible for at least half of new infections in the U.S. before December ends, the CDC experts say. Although highly contagious, there is no evidence JN.1 causes more severe disease. The federal agency advisory says COVID-19 tests and treatments are expected to be effective against JN.1.

Francesca Ceddia, senior vice president of  respiratory vaccines at Moderna, said the updated shot will work against the JN.1 strain. “We keep calling them boosters but really they are updated vaccines and were changed for a purpose. They are made to be more specific for the sublineages circulating now.”

Ceddia said Moderna, at this time, feels confident the updated vaccine will cover existing strains. “At this stage, we have not started on a new booster.”