COVID Prevalence is Increasing. Outpatient Doctor Visits for Respiratory Infections Continue to Increase the Fastest in Children. We Show COVID is the Most Likely Cause.

Children are Missing School to Go to the Doctor Office. For Many Parents, Missed Work = Less Money. This is Preventable.

CDC- COVID Wastewater Prevalence

United States prevalence is high and increasing in communities all across the country.

Below are just some of the places seeing the larger increases.

(The data below is provided by Biobot)

Don't miss out on valuable insights! Join our community of informed readers for free today by subscribing below.

By becoming a paid subscriber, you're not only gaining access to exclusive content but also actively supporting the future of this important work. Contribute to our mission by becoming a valued paid subscriber today.

---

Outpatient doctor visits for respiratory infections continue to increase the fastest in children.

Outpatient visits for respiratory infections, including adults is higher at this point in the year (week 39) than the any year going back to 2017, with the exception of last year, which was slightly higher than this year. It is important to remember that the immune system is weakened for weeks, or months in many people, following a COVID infection. ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Rotovirus and RSV are starting to increase but all of the respiratory spread viruses are still at a very low prevalence. In other words, COVID is sending the majority of children to the doctors office. If children are going to the doctors office, they are missing school and parents are missing work.

The common respiratory viruses have not started spreading at a higher rate yet which means if your child is sick, it's likely COVID-19. People should keep their children home for a minimum of 8 days, not the 5 days the CDC guidance shows because many studies show people remain.(6, 7, 8) Test your children before sending them back so they don't spread this disease to other families and other classrooms. We have to break the chain of transmission, not be a link in that chain.

HV.1 is currently the fastest spreading variant in the U.S. When we look at the ages it has been most found in (pictured below), we see that children are the most impacted, followed by the parents age groups. The same is true for the new BA.2.86 sub-variant, JN.1. More info on JN.1, coming soon.

SARS-Cov-2 is spreading between classrooms and homes, from students to siblings to new classrooms. Children, in the classroom setting, provide the virus an efficient path to exponential growth, spreading to parents and into the community along the way.

We must make the investments in air filtration and ventilation. Billions of people could have a better quality of life if we simply understood that providing Clean Air for Kids is absolutely essential. We must work Together Against COVID Transmission.