2025-01-07 BC

COVID-19 levels are still lower than it’s been in a long time. Flu levels, on the other hand, are still going up.

Charts

From the BC CDC Situation Report:

Data through Jan 26.

Comparison vs. Other Influenza-Like-Illnesses, from the Viral Pathogen Characterization page:

Percent positivity

Holy cow, was I wrong about influenza being over*! It is WAY higher than it was a few weeks ago, and Influenza B is starting to make its move. COVID-19 and RSV went up very slightly. Entero/rhinovirus (not shown) is going down; “common cold” coronaviruses (not shown) are starting to rise but are still low, at about the same level as Flu B.

In the most recent data (ending 1 Feb) as reported on 6 Feb 2025, among confirmed cases, there were:

  • 8% as many COVID-19 cases as flu cases,
  • 26% as many COVID-19 cases as RSV cases,
  • about 94% as many COVID-19 cases as enterovirus/rhinovirus cases.
  • only about 5% as many COVID-19 cases as all the other influenza-like illnesses (influenza, RSV, enterovirus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, and common-cold coronaviruses) combined.

*In my defence, the province had significantly underreported the week I said I thought flu had peaked.

I’d like to give some context. Right now, there is a lot of influenza, a little over a thousand new cases per week. During Omicron’s peak, there were about three thousand new cases per day.

Wastewater

From Jeff’s wastewater spreadsheet: