Norovirus and respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 on the rise

SANTA FE — If you’ve woken up with sweaty palms, shaky hands and a grumbling stomach begging for relief, you’re not alone. The new year brought a warm winter, new habits and an uptick of norovirus — commonly called the stomach flu.

“Norovirus outbreaks occur throughout the year but are most common from November to April,” said Nick Spinelli, public affairs specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This year, the number of reported norovirus outbreaks have exceeded the numbers that we’ve seen recently and in the years before the pandemic.”

Though sometimes called the stomach flu, norovirus is not the same as the flu.

“Flu is caused by the influenza virus and causes respiratory illness,” according to a statement from the New Mexico Department of Health. “Norovirus causes gastroenteritis, which is inflammation of the stomach or intestines that causes nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea.”

The virus can be passed person-to-person through touch, contaminated food or water or contaminated surfaces and become more viral during the holiday season.

“I think we see an increase in all of those contagious illnesses after the holidays, partly because it’s winter and partly because we’re all together,” said Miranda Durham, NMDOH Chief Medical Officer. “January is often a rough time for all these contagious illnesses.”

While norovirus doesn’t have a vaccine, NMDOH recommends getting vaccinated for respiratory illnesses, which also spike in winter months.

Wastewater viral activity — a way to monitor infection and bacteria in wastewater to determine the spread of infections — indicates a very high presence of COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, also called RSV, in New Mexico, according to the CDC. New Mexico is the only state in the country to have high numbers in each of the three respiratory illnesses monitored.

Flu, COVID and RSV rates are increasing in New Mexico. Though the number is low compared to previous years, an increase in emergency room visits indicates infections are making people sick enough to require treatment, with norovirus being the biggest factor in busy emergency rooms.

In the last week of December, the amount of people seeking health care because of acute respiratory illness was high nationally, Spinelli said.

According to Durham, the increase in respiratory illnesses was expected after the holidays. A decrease in people seeking updated vaccinations makes illnesses more spreadable. New Mexico sees an uptick in vaccines prior to the holiday season annually, Durham said, but the overall rates of COVID and flu vaccines in New Mexico and across the U.S. is low.

“I attribute it to people being kind of burned out on vaccines during the pandemic and maybe a little confusion on the fact that you really need an updated COVID vaccine every year.”

In New Mexico, COVID-19 is the leading cause of emergency room visits at 2.6%. The highest percentage in recent years was in December 2023, when COVID-19 accounted for 2.7% of all emergency room visits.

“We’ve probably been a little bit busier over the holidays here with inpatient and ER,” said Nancy Laster, chief nursing officer of Lovelace Westside Hospital.

Frequently, emergency room visits drop on Christmas Eve and Christmas day because people who are sick don’t want to visit a hospital, Laster said.

“We’ve stayed pretty full even on the holiday itself, so it’s probably been a little bit worse this year but nothing super out of the ordinary,” she said.

With emergency rooms filling up and norovirus on the rise, all medical professionals had one recommendation.

“The big message is it’s really not too late to get vaccinated,” Durham said. “If you haven’t had COVID in the last three months, go get that COVID vaccine now, same with influenza. Go get the flu vaccine now because we still have a good chunk of the winter left to go, and those viruses will be around.”