Be Aware: It’s Getting Harder to Predict the Seasonality of RSV

As you probably recall, there was a marked difference in rates of respiratory syncytial virus at a certain point during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that there was essentially no RSV “season” in 2020–21, presumably due to school closures, masking, and social distancing practices. Before the pandemic, RSV cases started to climb in October, peaked in December, and essentially disappeared by April. Now, the Journal of the American Medical Associationreports that the virus’s seasonality may have actually shifted; the 2021–2022 data show cases began increasing in May 2021 and that the season essentially ended in January 2022. And the most recent season started in June 2022 and petered out in November of last year.