A lot of us in #NYC have spent time indoors to escape the heat wave, but so far there's no sign of a summer #COVID wave! Deaths continue to drop, with 20 reported over the most recent 30 days.

Sadly, #CovidIsNotOver and it looks like #COVID19 hospitalizations may bottom out at 13-15 per day, which is not great!

I still #WearAMask in crowded places like elevators, trains and buses, and #MaskUp where there are vulnerable people, like doctors' offices, pharmacies, hospitals and supermarkets!

Another blip in #COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths here in #NYC, but on average we seem to be plateauing around 220 cases and 15 hospitalizations per day, 20 #COVID19 hospitalizations per month. This is roughly what we had in the winter trough.

#CovidIsNotOver and it's hot out, so a lot of us are spending time in air conditioning. We need to #WearAMask in elevators, subways, doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets, and keep an eye out for signs of a summer wave!

Looks like #COVID cases and hospitalizations have dropped again after last week's blip, to 1.0 hospitalizations per lakh per day, maybe lower, and #COVID19 deaths continue to drop, to 19 in the 30 days of June.

I am out of #OutbreakMode so I am singing karaoke and eating in restaurants, but #CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, taxis, doctors' offices, pharmacies, hospitals and nursing homes!

There's another blip up in #COVID cases in #NYC. Is it a sign of a summer wave? We'll have to keep monitoring. #COVID19 hospitalizations are steady at about 12 per day, and deaths at about 20 per month.

This week I went to my first in person all-day conference since 2020. I had to miss in-person karaoke, but I'm planning to go by next weekend at least.

I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, taxis, supermarkets, doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies and nursing homes!

#COVID cases and hospitalizations haven't continued to rise in #NYC after last week's blip, but they haven't gone down either. About 212 #COVID19 cases and 14 hospitalizations per day, and 20 deaths per month, citywide.

I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, taxis, supermarkets, doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies and nursing homes. CO2 levels are lower in #Amtrak cafe cars, so it's frustrating that they've eliminated cafe cars for several Albany-NYC and NYC-Harrisburg runs!

This week in #NYC #COVID deaths are down to 17 in 30 days, but #COVID19 cases and hospitalizations HAVE continued to rise. About 253 cases and 15 hospitalizations per month, citywide.

These past few months I've really enjoyed karaoke, traveling, eating indoors, going to seminars, and other activities that can spread airborne infectious diseases. Not happy that I might have to stop those things in order to keep others safe.

#CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in trains and doctors' offices!

#COVID deaths are steady at 17 per 30 days in #NYC, but #COVID19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. They are nowhere near the threshold for Outbreak Mode (I'm using 6 hospitalizations per lakh), but it's important to keep in mind that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene doesn't report on flu or RSV in the summer.

#CovidIsNotOver so I'll continue to monitor these indicators. And I still #WearAMask in trains, buses, elevators, doctors' offices, nursing homes and pharmacies!

#COVID deaths are down slightly in #NYC, at 15 citywide per 30 days, but #COVID19 cases and hospitalizations are still rising. There's a slight dropoff in this week's data, but right now we don't know if that's a data delay, or if this recent rise was just a blip.

Again, nowhere near the threshold for Outbreak Mode, and we're two months away from getting data about flu and RSV, but #CovidIsNotOver so let's continue to #WearAMask in trains, buses, elevators, doctors' offices and nursing homes!

#COVID cases and hospitalizations in #NYC have stopped rising, but remain higher than in July and late June. We had another day with three deaths, so that brought the 30-day death toll back to 18.

Still not high enough for me to go into Outbreak Mode, and I sang karaoke last night. Let's hope that with the cooler weather, people will spend more time outside and open windows more!

#CovidIsNotOver so I #WearAMask in trains, buses, elevators, doctors' offices, hospitals and nursing homes!

We're definitely having a late-summer #COVID wave in #NYC! #COVID19 cases are as high as 32 per lakh per day, and hospitalizations at 1.7 per lakh per day. Deaths are still 19 total citywide per month.

I've been working with a threshold of 60 cases or 6 hospitalizations per lakh per month for all airborne infectious diseases. Epidemiologists still think flu and RSV are seasonal, so we won't have total rates for another six weeks.

#CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in trains and buses!

The late-summer #COVID wave continues to slowly rise in #NYC! 28 #COVID19 cases and 1.8 hospitalizations per lakh per day. 23 deaths in the month of August.

The levels are still nowhere near the threshold of 60 cases I set for going into Outbreak Mode. I find it hard to believe there's no flu or RSV, but I guess we'll have to wait until mid-October to find out!

#CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains and buses, #MaskUp in nursing homes, supermarkets and doctors' offices!

#COVID cases continue to rise in #NYC, to 33 per lakh per day, while hospitalizations are fluctuating around 1.6. September 4 was our first day since May with more than three #COVID19 deaths.

Even if COVID alone doesn't reach the threshold of 60 cases I set for Outbreak mode, once flu and RSV season starts the combined total may be that high.

I'm going to an in-person singing lesson, but #CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, pharmacies, nursing homes and supermarkets!

The #NYC fall #COVID wave is rising slowly, now up to 35 #COVID19 cases and 1.7 hospitalizations per lakh per day. Deaths also inched up, from 23 to 24 in the past 30 days.

We should be getting the first report on flu and RSV on October 24; when we started last year the RSV wave was already underway.

#CovidIsNotOver so I #WearAMask in crowded spaces like elevators, trains and buses, and #MaskUp where there are vulnerable people: nursing homes, doctors' offices, pharmacies and supermarkets!

#COVID cases continue to climb slowly in #NYC, now up to 36 per lakh per day. #COVID19 hospitalizations are at 1.9 per lakh, and deaths are steady at 24 in the past 30 days.

Here's hoping this is the peak. If it is, I'm going to hold off for a few weeks to #GetBoosted. My doctor gave me the #flu shot today, but isn't doing COVID shots.

#CovidIsNotOver so I #WearAMask in elevators, trains, planes and buses, and #MaskUp in doctors' offices, nursing homes, pharmacies and supermarkets!

#COVID case counts have dropped in #NYC: from 428 per lakh per day the week ending September 15 to 398 the week ending September 22! #COVID19 hospitalizations have also dropped from 23 to 21. Deaths in the most recent 30-day "complete" period have dropped from 24 to 18.

This could be incomplete data even though it says "complete"! But it's the first time that all three indicators have dropped in this wave.

#CovidIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in trains, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

The early fall #COVID wave in #NYC seems to be ending! #COVID19 cases were down to 311 per lakh per day as of September 29, hospitalizations were at 20, and deaths at 20 in the most recent 30 days with complete data.

I'm relieved, since I have a few in-person karaoke events coming up.

Of course #CovidIsNotOver so I #WearAMask in confined spaces like elevators, trains, buses and planes; #MaskUp in places with vulnerable people like doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets!

As the early fall #COVID wave in #NYC continues to recede, cases have dropped to 232 per lakh per day and hospitalizations to 17. Deaths are a lagging indicator, so we're up to 26 deaths in the most recent 30 days with complete data.

I'm home trying to get through some kind of sinus infection - two negative #COVID19 rapid tests, two days apart.

#CovidIsNotOver and I don't want to give this respiratory infection to anyone so I asked someone else to host the in-person karaoke meetup!

Happy #FluSeason! I just went to check the #NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's PDFs and was redirected to a new website combining #influenza #RSV and #COVID data with dynamic charts, based on data that's also regularly uploaded to GitHub!

There was a #flu spike in September.

Last year I asked for them to make the raw data available and was told to put in a FOIL request. I'm glad they implemented my request, and look forward to using the data in my dashboard!

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/respiratory-illness-data/

The new #NYC Respiratory Illness Data dashboard is great for an overview. It suggests that just as our #COVID wave is subsiding we're getting a #flu wave and maybe an #RSV wave.

My dashboard doesn't seem to be updating, which suggests they may have moved all the COVID data to GitHub.

I'm now 10 days into my current sinus infection - #COVID19 rapid tests negative - and feeling better, but not 100%.

#CovidIsNotOver and I #WearAMask in trains, elevators, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

The new #NYC Dashboard is showing that #COVID emergency room visits have continued to drop in the week ending October 25, while #flu increased and #RSV stayed the same.

I love how they combine all three and show directionality. But what's missing is the relative context and thresholds: Are #influenza visits getting high enough to worry about? Are #COVID19 visits low enough we can stop worrying about them?

This is what I tried to address with my posts upthread. Stay tuned!

#CovidIsNotOver

The #flu headline in today's dashboard looks scary: 83% increase! But hang on...

The chart shows that #influenza visits to hospital emergency rooms have risen to 0.22%. That means for every 100,000 people who go to the ER, 99,978 don't test positive for the flu.

The fall #COVID wave is over, but #COVIDIsNotOver and the #COVID19 hospitalizations are slightly lower than flu - 0.18%.

The page reports other respiratory viruses, great reasons to #MaskUp especially in hospitals, buses and trains!

Finally getting a chance to look into the new #COVID #flu and #RSV open data from the New York City Health Department, and there are some things that concern me.

The biggest thing is that while we have raw counts of cases and deaths, they only give emergency room data as the percentage of hospitalizations and visits with a respiratory disease diagnosis.

I set my thresholds at hospitalizations per lakh population, and I can't calculate that any more.

https://github.com/nychealth/respiratory-illness-data/blob/main/data/emergencyDeptData.csv

#COVIDIsNotOver

I settled on 6 hospitalizations per lakh population per day as my threshold for coming out of Outbreak Mode by looking at previous #COVID19 and #influenza outbreaks. I have only a vague idea what's a safe percentage of hospitalizations due to respiratory diseases.

The #NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is leaving up the historical #COVID data, but not providing historical data for these new measures, so we can't correlate them with previous outbreaks…

https://grieve-smith.com/ftn/2024/05/how-do-we-know-its-safe/

How do we know it's safe?

I shouldn't be writing this. I have no training in medicine or epidemiology. I'm just some random person. And if you have something from a better trained source that tells you how to manage your exposure to airborne infectious diseases like COVID, the flu or RSV in order to avoid passing it on to

Commentary by A. Grieve-Smith

The #NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's new Respiratory Disease portal is a big improvement over the old flu and RSV weekly static PDF files, combined with #COVID data. And it makes sense to put them all in a new repo with a new format.

But when they rolled out the new repo, they stopped uploading #COVID19 data to the old repo, and didn't generate new flu or RSV PDFs. So the site I built last year is not updating at all.

But today I got it to display some data from the new repo!

I have now replaced the charts based on stale #NYC and CDC #COVID data with new charts based on the weekly #COVID19 case and death data, and case counts for #flu and #RSV, provided by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene!

The fall COVID wave is definitely over, but it looks like the #influenza and #RSVirus waves are hitting at the same time this year; last year the flu wave was a month after RSV.

#COVIDIsNotOver so #WearAMask in trains and doctors' offices!

https://contagion.grieve-smith.com/

There's a tiny uptick in #COVID cases in #NYC, but #COVID19 deaths are down to 20 in the month of November! As far as I'm concerned, #COVIDIsNotOver until we go at least a month with no deaths, but this year has been encouraging!

But it's #FluSeason and #flu cases have already passed last year's peak. The #RSV wave seems to be tapering off, or at least rising more slowly.

I hosted in-person karaoke this week, but I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

Got a tip from @WeeklyAmericanPandemicDeaths that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have quietly resumed posting data about the spread of #COVID #flu and #RSV!

The New School is on vacation for two weeks, so I finally have time to update my dashboard!

Nationwide 7-day average hospitalizations for #COVID19 have dropped to 0.8 per lakh, and #RSVirus has risen to 0.8 per lakh, but it's #influenza putting people in the hospital!

https://contagion.grieve-smith.com/

#FluSeason

Cautiously optimistic because #flu and #RSV cases and hospitalizations are going down in #NYC for the first time in this #FluSeason! Nationwide, #RSVIrus hospitalizations are also dropping, and #influenza is rising slower. I'm hoping they will continue to drop in time for next week's live band karaoke!

#COVID cases and deaths are still low; only 18 #COVID19 deaths in the first four weeks of December!

#COVIDIsNotOver and nor are RSV or the flu, so I #WearAMask in trains and doctors' offices!

Very relieved that in the week ending January 2 in #NYC, #flu and #RSV cases, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations, are all declining, and there's no sign of a new #COVID wave. Just bought my ticket for live band karaoke!

There are #COVID19 waves elsewhere in the US, so I'm keeping an eye out.

#COVIDIsNotOver and it's still #FluSeason so I #WearAMask in crowded spaces like elevators, trains and buses, #MaskUp around vulnerable people in doctors' offices, pharmacies and supermarkets!

#Flu cases and emergency room visits continued to drop in #NYC the week ending January 10. #RSV and #COVID cases and ER visits are higher than baseline but remain a small fraction of respiratory illness cases and hospital visits.

Nationwide US data now seems complete, showing a Christmas #influenza spike and New Year's #COVID19 and #RSV bump.

#COVIDIsNotOver and it's still #FluSeason so #GetVaxxed if you haven't already, and #wearAMask in elevators, trains, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

In #NYC the week ending January 17, #flu cases and emergency room visits are now below where they were the week ending November 22. #RSV and #COVID cases and ER visits remain higher than baseline, but are a small fraction of respiratory illness cases and hospital visits.

#COVIDIsNotOver and it's still #FluSeason - and things are still bad in other parts of the country, so it's not too late to #GetVaxxed!

I #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, doctors' offices, pharmacies and supermarkets!

In the United States the week ending January 17, #flu hospitalizations were down to 2.9 per lakh, the same as the week ending December 6. #COVID and #RSV hospitalizations were still low and dropping.

#COVIDIsNotOver and there may be local outbreaks, but in general it's relatively low.

As long as people are dying I #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, doctors' offices, pharmacies and supermarkets.

#Flu cases and emergency room visits are almost back to baseline in #NYC, and so are #COVID cases. #RSV has been at about 27 cases per lakh per day since the end of December, which is higher than baseline, but contributes to 0.32% of emergency room visits.

#COVIDIsNotOver and there were 37 deaths from #COVID19 in the past four weeks, compared with 20 deaths in December.

As long as people are dying I #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, taxis, doctors' offices, pharmacies and supermarkets.

In the United States the week ending January 24, hospitalizations for #flu #COVID and #RSV continued to drop, to a total of 4.7 per lakh per day.

#COVIDIsNotOver and there are still local hotspots, but let's hope we have a nice long break before the next nationwide outbreak!

As long as people are dying I #WearAMask in elevators, trains, planes, ferries, buses, doctors' offices, hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and supermarkets.

#Flu and #COVID cases and emergency room visits are back to baseline in #NYC. #RSV may be decreasing, but none of them are contributing heavily to hospitalizations.

Most hospitalizations in January 26-31 appear to be from "the common cold": enterovirus/rhinovirus and old coronaviruses.

#COVIDIsNotOver and there were 24 deaths from #COVID19 in January, but that may rise.

As long as people are dying I #WearAMask in elevators, trains, buses, taxis, doctors' offices, pharmacies and supermarkets.

We're now at 20-26 #flu cases per lakh per day, way down from the peak of 389. Still more than 10x the baseline or 1-2 outside of #FluSeason, but last year we didn't reach this level until April.

#RSV is about the same level. It didn't get much higher this season, and we've seen this many cases every week for almost two months.

#COVID is about half the number of cases, about what we saw in October-November of last year. 41 #COVID19 deaths in January.

I still #WearAMask in trains and markets!

Once again displaying #CovidWastewater on my #NYC #RespiratoryIllness dashboard!

For a while I embedded the #COVID #wastewater Tableau chart from the New York State Department of Health. But I had to update it manually, and it got out of date.

Now the NYC Department of Environmental Protection seems to be reliably updating the city's Open Data portal with the most recent data!

Counts have been low lately; let's hope it's a while before the next wave!

https://contagion.grieve-smith.com/

#COVIDIsNotOver

The #NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene need to figure out a way to indicate when an increase in an indicator is within the normal range of fluctuation. Yes, hospitalizations for the #flu went up from 0.34% of all hospitalizations to 0.57%, but those are tiny percentages!

#COVIDIsNotOver and it's still #FluSeason so these numbers are higher than the baseline, but not that much higher.

41 people died of #COVID in January, so I #WearAMask in trains, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

There is a very slight uptick in #flu and #RSV cases in #NYC, which may indicate that we're going to have a relatively rare double wave this #FluSeason, but it's still less than 1% of hospitalizations.

#COVIDIsNotOver but #COVID cases are at some of the lowest levels since the virus emerged, and there were 30 deaths in the four weeks ending February 7.

You can help prevent a second wave of #influenza and #RSVirus if you #WearAMask on elevators, trains, buses, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

I was hopeful because it looked like someone at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had managed to keep the RESP-NET data updated with #COVID #flu and #RSV hospitalizations, but they haven't updated since January.

I wish I could say #NYC was better at providing #COVID19 #Wastewater data for timely warning of new outbreaks, but the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene only updates the city's Open Data portal once a month.

#COVIDIsNotOver #OpenData

The #NYC Department of Environmental Protection sampled #COVID #wastewater on six different dates in February, but for some reason the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene only updates them once a month.

We're definitely betwen waves! The #COVID19 wastewater levels are much lower than the July 2024 and February 2025 peaks, and even lower than the levels we saw in March-October last year!

#COVIDIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, planes, doctors' offices and supermarkets!

#COVID #flu and #RSV case and hospitalization counts are all dropping in #NYC as of February 28. #COVID19 deaths are also down, with only 10 reported in February so far (but that is likely to go up).

I'm in Seattle for about a week, and the numbers are similar. I ate lunch indoors and I'm going dancing with friends tonight!

#COVIDIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, buses, planes, trains, and crowded ferries, pharmacies and supermarkets!

In #NYC as of March 7, #COVID #flu and #RSV case counts are all down. Emergency room visits are down for #COVID19 and #RSVirus. They're slightly up for #influenza but that's probably within the normal range of variation.

I'm really happy that the winter waves for all three diseases were relatively mild, and I hope it's a good long time before we have another bad wave!

With 10 deaths in February #COVIDIsNotOver so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, planes, pharmacies and supermarkets!

In #NYC as of March 14, #COVID and #RSV cases are down, and so are #RSVirus emergency department visits as a percentage of all ED visits. #influenza cases and #COVID19 and flu ED visits are slightly up, but it's all within normal fluctuations.

No new COVID deaths were reported, so we're on track for another relatively low-death month.

But #COVIDIsNotOver as long as people are going to hospitals and dying, so I still #WearAMask in elevators, trains, planes, buses, pharmacies and supermarkets!