Although the cold and flu season is still ongoing and respiratory virus activity remains elevated in the tri-state area, there are several signs of encouraging news.

Health officials say while thousands of residents are still being hospitalized for respiratory viruses, there has been a decrease in the last few weeks. Specifically, the number of people getting the flu is down for the third week.

RSV hospitalizations rates are down for younger kids but remain high for older adults.

Officials say viral levels of COVID-19 found in wastewater are high in the U.S, as data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there were more than 3,000 hospitalizations in the past week in the tri-state area. However, that number is down 12.5% from the prior week.

A new study from the CDC shows that latest COVID-19 vaccine has shown to help reduce one's chance of getting sick from an infection in half.

Vaccine makers have updated their formulas to target what was considered the predominant strain for much of last year.

The data also shows these vaccines are effective against the JN.1 strain that has caused the most infections in the U.S. since late December.