Respiratory virus season has begun, and the health department’s Respiratory Virus Surveillance Dashboard is a convenient way to stay informed about respiratory virus activity in Putnam County. Launched last year, the dashboard gives healthcare providers and interested residents an easy way to stay informed about local disease trends. A pair of line graphs display case counts by week for influenza, COVID-19 and RSV, along with the incidence rate by age group. A Putnam map shows geographic incidence within the county.
The dashboard is interactive, allowing users to customize their view of the information. The line graphs can be enlarged using the blue slider bar on top of each graph. By clicking on the graph’s legend or key just above the slider bar, one can select and view one, two, or all three viruses and compare them to last year’s case counts. The same can be done for incidence rates by age. Hovering over a point on the line graphs brings up a pop-up box with the week’s count or incidence. 
The Respiratory Virus Dashboard is updated weekly to include data through the week ending the previous Saturday. As flu season starts, so does the increase in the other respiratory viruses including RSV and COVID. Every season is a bit different, but respiratory virus cases typically start to creep up in October, roughly Weeks 40 through 44, and peak during the winter.  Explore the dashboard at www.putnamcountyny.gov/respdash.
Once again, NYSDOH will publish a weekly report detailing activity of influenza, COVID-19, and RSV at the regional and state level. The first report is due on Friday, October 23. They can be found visiting health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/respiratory_viruses/ and scrolling down to Data and Trends.