Local levels of COVID-19, flu and RSV appear to be low early in the 2025-26 flu season, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has predicted will be as strong as last year’s.

Cheshire Medical Center has seen “very minimal cases to date” of flu and COVID-19 this season, Erin Patnode, the Keene hospital’s senior infection preventionist, wrote in an email.

However, the 2025-26 flu season “is hard to predict,” Patnode said, writing that the hospital’s infection prevention team is prepared for potential influxes of respiratory illnesses. The CDC records the flu season as between October and May, with respiratory viruses like the flu, COVID-19 and RSV generally peaking between December and February.

The flu season of 2024-25 marked the most severe since 2017-18, the CDC announced in September. This was felt at Cheshire Medical, where Patnode noted that “last year patients admitted with Influenza far outweighed those admitted with COVID.”

Last flu season, the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services recorded 71 flu-related deaths in the state. In March, a 21-year-old from Alstead died suddenly from pneumonia after contracting the flu.

DHHS’ weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending Nov. 8 reports “sporadic” flu activity for New Hampshire.

One way DHHS measures respiratory virus levels locally is through testing sewage at the Keene Wastewater Treatment Plan, since the viruses are shed in fecal matter. Since September, COVID-19 levels in the wastewater have stayed below 20,000 viral copies per 100mL; during the 2024-25 season, they peaked at over 123,000 viral copies per mL in January. Recorded levels of both RSV and the flu have stayed below detection levels since September.

At Applewood Rehabilitation Center in Winchester, N.H., infection preventionist Shirlina DeMond said Thursday there had not been cases of COVID-19 or flu so far this season. DeMond said the nursing home has been working to educate staff and visitors to prevent outbreaks before they happen since last year, flu and COVID-19 were “an intermittent issue.”

Aside from the occasional case of the flu and a single case of COVID-19, “we haven’t seen an uptick,” David Ryan, superintendent of the Winchester and Hinsdale school districts, said Thursday. Amid last year’s flu season, schools in both districts had to be closed for several days because so many staff members were sick. This year, Ryan said, “so far so good.”

The state health department is recommending that New Hampshire residents stay up to date on flu, RSV, and COVID-19 vaccines.

“These vaccines help prevent serious illness, protect our most vulnerable, and keep our communities strong,” said Iain Watt, director of the DHHS Division of Public Health, in a Sept. 24 news release about the flu season. The state department says flu vaccines are recommended for anyone 6 months of age or older and RSV vaccines are recommended for older adults and children under 8 months old. An updated seasonal COVID-19 vaccine is available for anyone in New Hampshire 6 months of age or older, the department said.

The CDC predicts this year’s flu season will “have a similar combined number of peak hospitalizations due to COVID-19, influenza, and RSV compared to last season,” its Respiratory Disease Season Outlook stated in August.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.