Flu cases holding steady in North Idaho, RSV cases still climbing
CAROLYN BOSTICK | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 hours, 24 minutes AGO
Dr. Anthony Rehil-Crest of Heritage Health.
Courtesy photo
Carolyn Bostick has worked for the Coeur d’Alene Press since June 2023. She covers Shoshone County and Coeur d'Alene. Carolyn previously worked in Utica, New York at the Observer-Dispatch for almost seven years before briefly working at The Inquirer and Mirror in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Since she moved to the Pacific Northwest from upstate New York in 2021, she's performed with the Spokane Shakespeare Society for three summers. | March 24, 2026 1:00 AM
Working at the clinic for Heritage Health, Dr. Anthony Rehil-Crest said the usual suspects for respiratory illnesses: namely influenza, COVID and RSV are making their way through the population in North Idaho.
“In the clinic setting, we’ve seen a lot of patients with influenza these past several months and RSV. The trends that I see especially with influenza, is that it’s not going down. It’s plateauing,” Rehil-Crest said.
The general pattern in recent years has been that flu hybrids continue through April and then numbers start falling in May.
“For the entire season, the cases of influenza was a little over 5,000 and Panhandle Health District reported eight deaths this flu season for North Idaho,” Rehil-Crest said. “I can see data for the last two years and it’s pretty on track at least with flu. The curves are pretty similar.”
He noted that RSV numbers haven’t yet hit their peak numbers for the season, however.
“With RSV, it’s still going up. It’s been going up since the beginning of the year and it’s still on an upward trajectory,” Rehil-Crest said.
In other related infectious disease news, a measles infection was confirmed to be a Kootenai County resident last week. There was an exposure risk reported in Spokane County, according to the Spokane Regional Health District.
With the warm winter turning into a warm early spring, the odds of staving off illness are still better with help from vaccinations.
“A lot of people get to this point in the year and think it’s too late to get the flu shot, it’s not too late. Flu is still very active in the community,” Rehil-Crest said. “If you haven’t gotten your flu shot, it’s a good idea.”
An RSV vaccine for adults and children is also recommended for public health. Rehil-Crest urged residents to make an appointment with their doctor’s office now.
“We're encouraging a lot of our older adults to get vaccinated for RSV because it affects children and it can really be dangerous for older adults especially if they have chronic respiratory problems,” Rehil-Crest said.
ARTICLES BY CAROLYN BOSTICK
Flu cases holding steady in North Idaho, RSV cases still climbing
Working at the clinic for Heritage Health, Dr. Anthony Rehil-Crest of Heritage Health said that the usual suspects for respiratory illnesses: namely influenza, COVID and RSV are making their way through the population in North Idaho.
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