Key Findings
- Like other infectious illnesses, rates of strep throat infections dropped significantly in 2020, coinciding with COVID-19 pandemic precautions. Rates remained low throughout 2020 and 2021.
- Similar to prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, strep throat infections started to increase in September 2022. Strep throat then increased to the greatest rate of infection seen since 2017 in February 2023.
In February 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted an increase in group A Streptococcus, or strep, infections, particularly in children.1 Given this, we wanted to understand how the incidence of strep pharyngitis and strep tonsillitis (strep throat) in 2022 and 2023 compares to previous years. We identified 3.3 million strep throat infections across 982.3 million encounters from January 1, 2017, to February 28, 2023.
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