Crossover of avian flu to humans, however, is very rare according to both Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In an interview with MPR News, Osterholm said: “The virus doesn’t have the right lock and key to get into our cells as it does the bird cells, and so the virus has to change some to have that happen.” And, in an interview with NPR, Cohen noted: “We have never seen a case of human-to-human spread of avian flu here in the United States.”
COVID-19 and RSV continuing to recede, but flu not going away
Influenza (the human variety), COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are still sending Minnesotans to the hospital. The good news is that the rate of COVID-19 and RSV hospital admissions continues to trend downward.
Flu hospitalizations leveled off again in the week ending March 16. In that week, 238 Minnesotans ended up in the hospital with influenza, as did 45 with RSV and 123 with COVID-19.
COVID-19 levels measured in the state’s wastewater continue to decline, 13 percent over the most recent week, according to the latest data from the University of Minnesota’s on-going Wastewater Surveillance Study. Data from that same study, however, does put the northwest region of the state on alert, since COVID levels there have been on the rise over both the past week and the past four weeks.
Find other graphs not included in this newsletter, on the COVID in Minnesota Key data page; which we are now typically updating on Thursdays and Fridays.
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