Purpose
The Respiratory Virus Laboratory Emergency Department Network Surveillance (RESP-LENS) dashboard reports emergency department visits for laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza (flu), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). It provides timely data on the primary viruses causing acute respiratory illness (ARI) and how each virus’s activity might vary over time and by age group.
Overview
RESP-LENS:
- Collects information from the electronic medical records of patients who visit a participating emergency department (ED) with ARI.
- Relies on respiratory virus laboratory testing ordered by a health care provider and reports number of tests ordered and percent positive for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV.
- Consists of 24 sites/health systems with a total of more than 100 participating hospitals located in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
Dashboard updates
There is at least one site in each of the 10 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regions. These sites report data for an average of approximately 11,000 ED visits weekly that are associated with ARI, of which an average of 4,000 a week are associated with children younger than 18 years.
About the surveillance system
Data collection
This surveillance system provides timely data on the primary viruses causing ARI and how each virus's activity might vary over time and by age group. The percent positivity metric can be used to follow trends and comparisons of laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV activity in different age groups and geographic areas (HHS Regions) of the United States.
RESP-LENS serves as a valuable tool for public health and health care professionals. It allows users to:
- Visualize and understand trends in virus circulation.
- Estimate disease burden.
- Respond to outbreaks.
- Inform decisions and strategies for protecting public health.
Using the RESP-LENS dashboard
1. Select a view
Information can be viewed as national data (all participating emergency departments) or filtered by HHS region, age group, or virus. HHS region, age group, and virus views can each be filtered by corresponding subcategories.
2. Select a virus
Select a virus (SARS-CoV-2, influenza, or RSV) or any combination of the three.
3. Additional actions
The Download Data button will download to your device a .csv file containing the data used to create the currently viewed chart.
The Download Image button will download to your device the currently viewed chart as a .png image file.