Infectious disease will continue to pose serious risks
January 17, 2025
This is the last in a series of seven posts on issues facing employer-sponsored health insurance in 2025. See the bottom of the post for links to previous posts.
Percent of Tests Positive for Respiratory Viruses
Source Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), January 11, 2024
The rates of influenza, COVID-19, and RSV are going up in early January, as is typical at this time of year. Vaccinations can prevent or decrease the severity of all three, although vaccination rates this year are disappointing.
Betting markets suggest a one in eight chance (12%) that we’ll have a significant pandemic of H5N1 bird flu over the coming year as of January 11. There have been two severe cases of an especially dangerous strain of bird flu in North America this year, and over 60 cases of mild bird flu diagnosed in humans, although the actual infection rates are likely much higher. There have been no documented cases of person-to-person transmission, although co-infections with bird flu and seasonal flu increase the chances of dangerous new variants.
Implications for employers:
- Promote vaccination: Employers can continue to communicate that respiratory virus vaccinations are available without cost sharing. RSV vaccine given late in pregnancies with due dates during the fall and winter can prevent many pediatric hospitalizations.
- Plan for future pandemics: Employers can develop or update pandemic preparedness plans to address any future respiratory virus pandemic, to help protect employees and maintain business continuity. Key elements can include:
- Supporting remote work to decrease employee density during outbreaks.
- Offering adequate sick leave to discourage ill employees from coming to work.
- Investing in good indoor air filtration systems.
- Stockpiling masks and protective equipment.
- Updating travel protocols for both respiratory infections and other infections (like norovirus).
Here’s a link to a post on what employers need to know about bird flu by Patricia Toro, MD MPH.
Thanks for reading. You can find previous posts in the Employer Coverage archive
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The posts in this series:
Employers and health systems will continue to face labor shortages
Regulation and policy changes could reshape employer-sponsored health insurance
Artificial intelligence will continue to advance in health care delivery and administration
Climate change will adversely impact health and increase health care costs
Mental health and substance use will continue to require employer attention
Infectious disease will continue to pose serious risks (today’s post)