Here are four infection control updates for dentists to know:
1. Nearly 20,000 people were hospitalized with flu during the week of Thanksgiving, marking a nearly 74 percent increase from the week prior and the highest figure seen this early in the flu season in a decade.
2. The seven-day COVID-19 hospitalization average was 4,425 for the week ending Dec. 3, a 17.4 percent increase from the previous week's average, CDC data shows. The agency is forecasting that COVID-19 admissions will continue to rise over the next four weeks, with 1,600 to 11,000 new daily COVID-19 admissions reported on Dec. 23.
3. RSV appears to have peaked in the South and Southeast and may have plateaued in the Mid-Atlantic, New England and Midwest regions, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said during a Dec. 5 media briefing.
4. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the Biden administration does not anticipate that it needs to renew the public health emergency declaration for mpox, or monkeypox, when it ends on Jan. 31. CDC data as of Nov. 30 also show that fewer than 10 cases daily are being reported, down from more than 450 a day in early August.