Regional statistics show that the next two weeks are historically when flu and RSV hospitalizations peak in Las Vegas.
That’s according to the Southern Nevada Health District’s new Respiratory Disease Dashboard, which launched in mid-November.
Along with hospitalization rates, it also tracks fatality numbers and vaccine uptake for RSV, flu, and COVID. The goal, said SNHD epidemiologist Benjamin Ashraf, is to aggregate critical public health data in one place.
"Information tends to be sometimes siloed — it's one of the unfortunate aspects about healthcare," he said. "So, we're able to bring it together in one location, and we do this from a variety of different sources."
This, said Ashraf, enables community members to change their habits and healthcare providers to tailor recommendations.
"You can make more of an informed decision on whether you should go get vaccinated, see your health care provider, or maybe do some precautionary measures such as like washing your hands or potentially even wearing a mask."
The dashboard's data suggests these behaviors might matter more at some points of the year than others — particularly, in the case of RSV and the flu, in mid-December, when hospitalizations for both illnesses peak.
Though Southern Nevada has recorded only one flu-related death in the last six weeks, national health agencies are warning the public that the 2025-26 flu peak could be particularly severe. That's due to two factors: The circulating H3N2 variant differs from the one this season's vaccine protects against, and can produce slightly more severe symptoms.
For COVID, Ashraf noted the virus is settling into a twice-yearly pattern.
"COVID is a little bit unique. We have been consistently seeing peaks in the summer as well as the winter, and that can be due to certain aspects of the virus, as well as potential travel that may happen. During summer, people tend to travel more and may be able to come into contact with this."
Regardless, the perennial advice for these three respiratory diseases remains the same: "I would still recommend vaccination as soon as you can."
Guest: Benjamin Ashraf, epidemiologist, Southern Nevada Health District
