The highly contagious bird flu has hit Montgomery County, Maryland, where officials say a backyard flock of chickens tested positive for the virus, making it the first case of a homeowner’s birds having the virus in Maryland this year and bringing the number of cases in the D.

Iowa's second report of bird flu within poultry in 2025 has been detected in a O'Brien County commercial laying chicken flock. This marks Iowa's first report of bird flu within poultry in February, with the year's first case detected last month in a Clinton County backyard flock.

IDALS announced a detection of the highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial layer flock in O’Brien County.

During the COVID pandemic, RSV showed a slightly odd pattern: like flu, it basically disappeared in the 2020–2021 season, likely because of masking and social distancing. But in 2022–2023 it came roaring back and had a large, early peak during the fall. Last year saw a significant surge as well, but it was closer to the timing of a typical season.

The good news is that Covid and RSV cases are trending down. However, flu numbers are soaring. WRAL News checked in with Duke Health, UNC and WakeMed. On Monday alone, Duke Health had 146 new cases of the flu. Compare that to a month ago, on Jan. 4, that number was 36.