Although the current flu season is tracking at a moderate level, according to data collected by Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), the state’s top epidemiologist cautions physicians against interpreting that analysis as normal, and reminds physicians they can now track those near-real-time statistics on their own to assist in disease reporting and public health safety.
“Coming out of COVID, our baseline is higher than it has been in the past,” said DSHS Chief State Epidemiologist Varun Shetty, MD. “We’ve got a whole other respiratory virus that causes a lot of illness and hospitalizations and even death every year now, just added to the mix. The baseline amount of impact on our communities and health care systems is just on average higher now going forward.”
That context makes physician awareness and reporting all the more important. His message to Texas physicians: stay informed using the tools available, counsel patients on the benefits of vaccination, and keep public health reporting lines open.
Launched in January 2024, the Texas Interactive Respiratory Illness Dashboard is an online tool designed to help physicians with just that. It aggregates data on influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and COVID-19 from emergency departments, hospitals, and death records across the state.
For physicians treating patients during respiratory illness season, Dr. Shetty, says the tool offers timely situational awareness that can inform clinical conversations.
“There’s a very short lag for our emergency department data and our hospital data,” said Dr. Shetty. “We get this information out as timely as possible. You can zoom in on specific timelines, look at breakdowns by age category, by disease type. There’s a lot of power to this dashboard.”
The dashboard also tracks hospital bed occupancy and what proportion of occupied beds are attributable to flu, RSV, and COVID-19.
DSHS also publishes a written weekly respiratory illness report alongside the dashboard, giving clinicians additional information to complement to the data visualizations.
The data show familiar and expected patterns by age group. Adults 65 and older continue to bear the greatest burden of influenza and COVID-19 hospitalizations, while children 4 years old or younger suffer the most severe RSV illness and hospitalizations, as has historically been the case.
But Dr. Shetty sees encouraging news on the RSV front. New immunization products introduced over the last two seasons – including maternal vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments – may be making an impact. Comparing January 2025 RSV hospitalization rates of young children to the same period last year, the dashboard shows a noticeable reduction, he said.
“Obviously, you don’t want to have any children hospitalized for RSV, but I’m encouraged to see that improvement this season.”
Overall, Dr. Shetty said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and DSHS assessments are in alignment: this has been a moderate flu season so far, compared to last year.
As of Feb. 25, DSHS had recorded six influenza-associated pediatric deaths this season. Historically, December, January, and February are the most common months for flu-associated pediatric deaths, according to state data.
Influenza-associated pediatric deaths are a reportable condition in Texas, and Dr. Shetty urges Texas Medical Association members to make sure they are reporting suspected cases to their local health department.
“Physicians play a huge role in helping keep families safe this season,” he said. “We want them to be aware of the tools that are out there and to support public health by reporting those reportable conditions to us.”