The annual winter respiratory virus season is back with a vengeance. New Jersey medical centers are seeing a significant increase in patients suffering from flu, RSV and COVID-19.

New Jersey ranks among the states with the highest flu activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And according to weekly surveillance data from the state Department of Health, roughly 5% of all emergency department visits due to respiratory illness during the first week of January were attributed to flu.

Health experts say most flu cases are relatively mild, but they’re still highly contagious.

“There’s a whole host of viruses out there. We are much better able to detect these viruses. And so now we have much better data in terms of their incidence,” said Dr. Suraj Saggar, chief of infectious disease at Holy Name Medical Center, in an interview with NJ Spotlight News.

“I would say that COVID is in third place right now. It’s really RSV and influenza that are leading,” said Saggar. “We are seeing an increase in COVID after a very slow start. We are seeing typical influenza and RSV like we have in other years. COVID-19, as you remember, kind of lasts throughout the year. So, it ebbs and flows. We even see summer peaks sometimes. We see peaks in the fall. And so COVID-19, especially between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, when people are congregating together, having meals together, taking vacations together, is where we expect these viruses to take off.”