Allegheny County launches new respiratory virus dashboard

The Allegheny County Health Department on Monday announced a new respiratory virus dashboard where people can find data on covid-19, influenza and RSV.

The new tool replaces the county’s prior covid-19 infections dashboard.

The interactive platform includes data on reported infections, emergency department visits, hospitalizations and deaths related to the trio of respiratory viruses.

“The dashboard is a great way to check what is happening right now in the county with regard to covid, flu and RSV,” said Dr. Kristen Mertz, the county’s medical epidemiologist.

Data shown on the new dashboard can be broken into demographic categories like race, ethnicity, sex and age group. It shows influenza and RSV data from 2018 through this year, as well as covid-19 data from the start of the pandemic through last month.

The county health department also urged people to receive the latest covid-19 vaccines, regardless of whether they’ve previously been vaccinated against the virus.

“The covid-19 virus continues to evolve and vaccine protection can diminish over time,” Dr. Barbara Nightingale, the health department’s deputy director for clinical services, said in a statement. “Getting an updated covid-19 vaccine can restore immunity and provide enhanced protection against the variants that are currently responsible for most infections and hospitalizations in the United States.”

Nightingale urged residents over age 65 to get vaccinated this year.

Allegheny County last year recorded 355 covid-19-related deaths and more than 5,000 hospitalizations related to the virus.

Health officials also encouraged people to receive their annual flu shots.

Infants, people who are at least 75 years old and pregnant women also should receive the RSV vaccine this season, health officials said. The common respiratory virus can cause serious illnesses in infants and older adults.

County residents can receive the vaccines through healthcare providers, local pharmacies, health care centers and the county’s immunization clinic. The county’s immunization clinic will provide free vaccines for people who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover the vaccines.