As respiratory illness season begins to ramp up, nursing facilities are reminded to remain diligent in their infection control practices to limit the spread of COVID-19 to residents and staff. Nursing facilities must comply with the DPH’s guidance on Organizational Policies and Procedures for Mitigating Respiratory Illness and continue to identify and monitor respiratory illness metrics to indicate when there are increased levels which may necessitate implementing these infection control measures. One possible metric is the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) Wastewater COVID-19 Tracking which measures the SARS-CoV2 levels. The data as of October 30, 2025, is found in the table below.
Additionally, the DPH Respiratory Illness Dashboard provides information on respiratory illness (COVID-19, influenza and RSV) cases including emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Data through October 25, 2025, shows 0.1% of emergency room visits in MA are due to influenza, 0.4% due to COVID-19, and 0.1% due to RSV. Hospitalization date shows 0.1% due to influenza, 0.6% due to COVID-19, and 0.6% due to RSV.
CDC Resource for Tracking Acute Respiratory Illness – Due to the federal government shut-down, the CDC acute respiratory illness metric found at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Respiratory Illness Data Channel has not been update since September 26, 2025.