Viral Respiratory Diseases

Georgia Department of Public Health conducts surveillance for viral respiratory diseases that usually spread in the fall and winter, including COVID-19, influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Anyone can get a respiratory virus infection, but some people are at higher risk for serious illness. These data help us track the trends of each disease and the combined impact overall.

Viral Respiratory Disease Activity- Data updated Wednesdays

Viral Respiratory Disease Surveillance

All Georgia physicians, laboratories, and other health care providers are required by law to report notifiable diseases. Instructions, including notifiable conditions and the timeframe in which they are reportable can be found at https://dph.georgia.gov/epidemiology/disease-reporting. Georgia tracks the listed conditions statewide using multiple overlapping surveillance systems, especially in the case of viral respiratory diseases as some are not reportable at the individual case level. More details about these various systems can be found at individual pages on the COVID-19, Flu, and RSV epidemiology DPH pages. DPH also monitors for more rare or uncommon viral respiratory disease events like travel-related illnesses (MERS, SARS, etc.) and novel or variant flu.

Additional Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Protect yourself from COVID-19, Flu, and RSV

Weekly Viral Respiratory Illness Snapshot

CDC Respiratory Virus Updates

COVID-19 Variant Surveillance