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• Posted January 29, 2025

COVID-19 Remains Major Health Threat in U.S.

COVID-19 continues to be a threat to America’s health, causing more illness and death than either influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a new study suggests.

COVID accounted for 3 of 5 (60%) respiratory illnesses among military veterans treated by the U.S. Veterans Health Administration during the 2023-2024 cold and flu season, researchers reported Jan. 27 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

COVID also caused more deaths than either influenza or RSV during that period, particularly among people who weren’t vaccinated against the coronavirus, researchers found.

“SARS-CoV-2 (the COVID virus) was far more common than influenza or RSV and resulted in more severe disease outcomes, including short-term hospitalization and mortality,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Kristina Bajema, medical director of antimicrobial stewardship with the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System in Portland, Or.

For the study, researchers analyzed the medical records of 72,939 veterans treated for COVID, flu or RSV between August 2023 and March 2024.

Results showed that 60% of vets sick with respiratory illness during the last cold and flu season had been infected with COVID, compared with 26% with influenza and 13% with RSV.

COVID and influenza had similar rates of hospitalization (16%), slightly higher than RSV (14%).

Likewise, COVID and influenza had a similar short-term risk of death, within a month of infection.

But long-term risk of death, within six months of infection, was higher among COVID patients than those with flu or RSV.

“COVID-19 was associated with more severe disease outcomes, including long-term mortality, compared with influenza or RSV,” researchers wrote.

The results also showed that veterans not vaccinated against the respiratory illnesses were more likely to die or require hospitalization.

Those not vaccinated against COVID were more likely to die than those not vaccinated against flu, researchers found.

But “among groups vaccinated against their respective infections, there were no mortality differences at any time point between COVID-19 and influenza,” researchers wrote.

“Vaccination remains an important strategy for minimizing the impact of respiratory viral illnesses and particularly Omicron variants” of COVID, the researchers concluded.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about COVID-19.

SOURCE: JAMA Internal Medicine, Jan. 27, 2025